The eruption destroyed the Pink and White Terraces at neighbouring Lake Rotomahana, the stepped rock pools that were once touted as the eighth wonder of the world.

BBC: Lakeside treks in a geothermal land

Before the Communists came to power in 1949, travellers reported an eighth wonder of the world: a green if dusty city, largely unaltered from the medieval plan laid out under Kublai Khan and built upon by the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties.

ECONOMIST: China��s Communist modernisers are wrecking the capital