The miraculous rock formations near the northwest Bulgarian town of Belogradchik are second again in the global campaign to select the world's new Seven Wonders.

On February 16, they moved up to first in the provisional ranking in the Group D category, "Caves, Rock Formations, and Valleys".

Bulgaria's Belogradchik Rocks are still before the US Grand Canyon, which remains third, and are only behind Serbia's Davolja Varos ("Devil's Cave").

The initiative committee in support of the Belogradchik Rocks headed by the Mayor of the Belogradchik Municipality, Emil Tsankov, is urging all Bulgarians and Bulgaria lovers to vote for the Bulgarian bidder on the website of the campaign, new7wonders.com.

The Belogradchik Rocks are competing with 260 other landmarks from 220 nations all across the world. The global campaign is organized by a Switzerland-based NGO.

77 of the 261 bidders will be selected as finalists by the end of July 2009 through online voting at new7wonders.com. The winners, i.e. the world's new Seven Wonders will become known in 2011.

The Belogradchik Rocks are miraculous sandstone and limestone rock formations of up to 200 m in height with various shapes resulting from erosion. They form a strip which is 30 km in length and 3 km in width in the northwestern part of the Stara Planina (Balkan) Mountain.

Every single rock is named after a real object that it resembles. The rock range varies in color. The Belogradchik Rocks were declared a natural landmark in 1949. The ancient Belogradchik fortress is also located among the rocks.