When I think of big statues, I tend to think of the Statue of Liberty and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. In truth, though, those statues are positively dwarfed by some lesser-known statues. Check out these top ten monstrous monuments.
1. Spring Temple Buddha, 502 feet. As of right now, this Chinese statue is the tallest in the world. The 502 feet includes the pedestal the Spring Temple Buddha stands on. Together, that’s just a little less than half the height of the Chrysler building.
2. Laykyun Setkyar, 427 feet. Since it was erected in 2008, the mammoth standing Buddha (including a 44-foot throne) has become one of Myanmar’s biggest tourist attractions. It took 12 years to build. There’s a neat GoogleMaps view of it on VirtualGlobetrotting.
3. Ushiku Daibutsu, 361 feet. Weighing 4000 tons, its hand alone is 59 feet long.
4. Guan Yin, 354 feet. She protectively watches over Sanya, China.
5. Emperors Yan and Huang, 348 feet. Government funding and donations from private citizens of China helped to get a statue up of two Emperors who ruled 4,000 years ago. According to legend, Huang invented boats, carts and clothing. I guess that deserves a statue.
6. Sendai Daikannon, 328 feet. If you stood two Olympic-sized swimming pools on their ends and stacked them, that would give you an idea of about how tall the Daikannon of Sendai, Japan, stands.
7. Qianshou Qianyan Guanyin of Weishan is 325 feet of gilded bronze residing in the Hunan Province of China.
8. Peter the Great, 315 feet. Peter surely would have approved of a statue made to honor the Russian Navy, which he founded. But not everyone thinks it’s so great – the statue has landed on at least two “world ugliest” lists.
9. Great Buddha of Thailand, AKA Tian Tan Buddha, 300 feet. Unlike the other statues, this Buddha is sitting, making it the largest statue of Buddha in that position.
10. Grand Buddha at Ling Shan, 289 feet. What’s particularly cool about this 700-ton Buddha is that there’s a replica of its hand stationed nearby so you can really get an idea of exactly how massive the statue is. Pretty amazing!
Have any of you seen these in person?
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Nope!!
posted by Rob Young on 9-2-2010 at 6:00 pm
While they would not have made this list, I feel the world also needs to recall the vandalism of the two statues of Buddha at Bamyan (Afghanistan). Standing 180 and 121 feet tall respectively, these were destroyed in 2001 by the forces of the Taliban under the peculiar tenets of Sharia law, which decreed the statues to be “idols” and against Islam, rather than historic treasures dating from the 6th century.
-”BB”-
posted by Bicycle Bill on 9-2-2010 at 6:06 pm
BB, but yet in Cairo, there is this garden with lots of Buddha statues!
posted by Mandy Bobandy on 9-2-2010 at 7:16 pm
Okay…I’ve just spent the last hour getting lost in VirtualGlobetrotting!!
posted by Paul on 9-2-2010 at 7:29 pm
Mandy, less radical governments that are based on Islamic law (such as Egypt) don’t take such hard-line approach as the Taliban did. If they did, Egypt would have destroyed much of its own history (as many of the statues from Ancient Egypt depict either Egyptian gods or pharaohs that were viewed as gods. It’s very much due to the views of the particular government. I think very few Islamic governments would take the same stance as the Taliban did and destroy something of such significance. (At the very least I imagine most other states would allow the statues to be removed, as the Taliban refused to allow.
posted by GoF on 9-2-2010 at 8:57 pm
I’m glad that someone mentioned those two statues that the Taliban destroyed. I was thinking of them as I read the article.
posted by Jennifer on 9-2-2010 at 10:08 pm
Mother Russia in Volgograd, Russia – 270 feet
The Grand Buddha of Leshan 233 ft.
Awesome!
posted by Mr. Retro on 9-2-2010 at 10:35 pm
Just to note, the Great Buddha of Thailand and the Tian Tan Buddha are two different statues. The Thailand one is located in Wat Muang, Aung Thong. The Tian Tan Buddha (the one in the linked picture) is located on Lantau island in Hong Kong and is a mere 110 feet high (still pretty big when you see it in person, especially with the cool staircase leading to it).
posted by Cor on 9-3-2010 at 12:37 am
For #1, the pedestal is included. Including the pedestal, the Statue of Liberty (305ft)is taller than two of the statues on the list.
posted by Phil on 9-3-2010 at 12:43 am
I have not seen any of these, but I have seen (one of?) the tallest monolithic statues in the world. The Gomateshwara statue at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka is high atop a bare stone hill (beware of climbing in the hot sun). There’s a stunning view from up there as well.
posted by curiousgeorgie on 9-3-2010 at 12:48 am
I remember seeing the Peter the Great statue (#8) when I was in Moscow. 3 things about it stuck in my mind, even though its been 4 years since I saw it:
1. The story we were told about the statue’s creation was that it was originally supposed to be a gift to the United States by the artist and the figure was Christopher Columbus. The US government rejected the statue, so the artist cut off Columbus’ head and replaced it with Peter the Great’s, and then sold/gave it to the Russian Government.
2. It really is ugly and disproportionate.
3. It amazed me how much Moscow residents hate the statue — even talking to random people and telling them where I’d been led them to rant about their dislike of it.
posted by Neel on 9-3-2010 at 6:56 am
I find it interesting that of the ten statues mentioned, eight of them are associated with Buddhism.
posted by BlueAloe on 9-3-2010 at 10:45 am
It’s still being carved (and will be for decades), but the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high.
posted by BrianW on 9-4-2010 at 11:23 am
I agree, “The Motherland Calls” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motherland_Calls is by far a more impressive sight than the ugly and insulting Peter the Great statue. And it’s 279 feet without the pedestal so it’s pretty close to being on this list!
posted by sasha on 9-7-2010 at 8:56 pm