Mental Floss

The Quick 10: The 10 Tallest Statues in the World

By Stacy Conradt

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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?