View Larger Map
After a discussion about monuments and landscape I decided to investigate the largest statues in the world. Surprisingly, familiar sites like the Statue of Liberty, Spinx, and Christ the Redeemer are not even on the list of the world's largest statues. Instead, I only knew of one of the top twenty even existed.
Seventeen of the largest statues of the world are in Asia. The non-Asian ones are two in Russia and one in Ukraine. The largest statue is the Spring Temple Buddha at a whopping 420 feet (128 meters). For reference the Statue of Liberty is only 151 feet (46 meters) without the pedestal and 305 feet (93 meters) with its pedestal.
Most of the monuments are less than fifteen years old and Buddhist. In fact, sixteen of the top twenty are Buddhist. The large Asian economies are paying their divine back by stamping it on the landscape. Even officially atheist People's Republic of China has allowed massive Buddhist statues to be built.
The country breakdown of the twenty largest statues is
- Japan: 8
- People's Republic of China: 7
- Russia: 2
- Ukraine: 1
- Republic of China (Taiwan): 1
- Thailand: 1
- Burma: 1
Of the Buddhist Statues
- Eight are of Avalokitesvara (Compassion)
- Six are of a Buddah
- Two are of Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy)
The Statue of Liberty comes in at twenty-six when not counting the pedestal. It is the second largest statue in the Western Hemisphere. The largest is two feet (less than a meter) higher and in Venezuela. It is the Virgin of Peace in Venezuela.
The Western Hemisphere in general and the United States in particular may one day lay claim to the largest statue in the World. The Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota is planned to be 563 feet (172 meters) high. However, the project is completely self-funded and going very slowly as it was started in 1948.
One day it could be the largest
3 comments:
I was sure the African Renaissance statue in Dakar would be on this list.
Rybu,
African Renaissance is 161 feet (49 meters) high. Sadly for it that makes it one meter smaller Usami Dai-Kannon in Japan (#20). Moral of the story is that the Buddhist statues in Asia are freaking huge. "Zoom in all the way and marvel at their awesomeness!"
Fascinating that South Dakota is in the running for #1!
Post a Comment