Very Large Buddhas (Redux)
Thursday, 16th July 2009 by Ian Brown
The world of gargantuan statuary has changed considerably since we published the original Very Large Buddhas post just over 3 years ago. The title of world's largest statue is now held by the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China.
The statue alone is 128m tall, and it stands on a 20m tall lotus throne, which in turn stands on a 25m tall pedestal – giving the structure a total height of 153m.
The statue - including the lotus throne - is 128m tall. Its original 25m tall pedestal gave the structure a total height of 153m. However, recent information shows that the hill it was built on has been constructed into an additional pedestal. The total height is now believed to be 208m. Panoramio has several pictures, and this image in particular gives you a sense of just how immense this monument is (and shows the new pedestal under construction.)
Little is known about the Spring Temple Buddha in the West, so it likely wasn't listed on Wikipedia when Alex wrote the original post. It was constructed in 2002 in response to Taliban bombing of Buddha statues in Afghanistan, as well as to thwart Indian plans to create the world's largest statue. I haven't been able to find any vital statistics about it, but this image seems to show that the toes alone are close to 2m high.
The world's second largest statue is the Laykyun Setkyar in Myanmar, which is so new (completed in 2008) that we only see it partially constructed on Google Maps.
At 116m on a 13.5m pedestal it is barely taller in total than the Spring Temple statue alone. Panoramio has a few pictures of the completed structure, which also show that it is, interestingly, located near a reclining Buddha which, at 90m in length, would probably be the world's 9th tallest statue if it was upright.
As it is also located in a somewhat secretive country, detailed statistics are similarly hard to find. The regime consistently claims it is the world's largest though, despite evidence to the contrary.
The world's third largest statue is Ushiku Daibutsu in Japan. It was featured in the original Very Large Buddhas post, though there is new imagery that shows it in greater detail.
Thanks to Lukasz for the link to the reclining Buddha, and to Alex for letting me update his original post.
About the author
Ian Brown lives in Ottawa, Canada, and spends his spare time perusing maps to find new routes to ride on his orange bicycle.
How do 128m statue, 20m throne and 25m pedestal give a total of 153m?
Since I can’t add up (or check numbers found on Wikipedia) apparently… Thanks for pointing that out, Timothy!
Interestingly, the Wikipedia page has changed significantly since I created the article earlier this week. It now says…
“At 128 m (420 ft), which includes a 20 m (66 ft) lotus throne, it is the tallest statue in the world. When the 25 m (82 ft) pedestal/building it is placed upon is taken into account, the monument has a total height of 153 m (502 ft). As of October 2008, the hill on which the statue stands is being reshaped to form two further pedestals, the upper one being 15 m tall. The total height of the monument is now said to be 208 m.”
I had noticed in some images that the hill appeared to have transformed into a building, so the total height now appears to be 208m, which matches what I’d read in another article that I chose not to include as it had no real information to back up that number.
On a complete non-related note, here’s a picture of some trees in Kamakura
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27209015@N04/3726690749/
Post updated with correct math, and recent info added in.
And, thanks for the picture Andrew!
I know it doesn’t really fit here, but for the street-view fans from Switzerland: http://maps.google.ch/intl/en_ch/help/maps/streetview/faq.html scroll down and see where they will be driving this July and august.
I wish I could find the big bronze Buddha that I visited while in South Korea back in the 90s, but I can’t remember the name of it. It has to be among one of the tallest.
Oh, duh…never mind, I just found it by googling “big bronze Buddha south Korea”.
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/mies/world_tour_2007/1215708000/big_bronze_buddha_from_a_distance.jpg/tpod.html
Wow, the Sagat stage xD