I am trying to find the answer but I am confused about the term “free standing”. There is a statue of Sri Gomatheswar that one site claims to be the tallest free standing statue in the world. But it is only 58 feet 8 inches. There is a Buddha in Japan taller and others. So who gets to claim the title “tallest”? And what does “free standing” really mean? Help me on this one, I have been on the web and find no clear answers.
I believe there’s a statue in Russia called “Motherland” that’s 52 meters tall (171 feet) (http://www.stalingrad.com.ru/hill/mother/mother.htm)
The Statue of Liberty, on the other hand, is either taller or shorter than this, depending on your criteria. If you count the pedestal (which seems like cheating), Liberty is 305’ tall. If you count only the statue, she’s 151’ tall.
The statue of Crazy Horse currently being carved from a mountain in South Dakota will be 563 feet tall, about 225m. So far, the process has taken 52 years, and I would say that they are about half-way to completion. The official website is here.
Bill
But, like Mt. Rushmore and Stone Mountain, that’s not free-standing. It’s a relief carving on the side of a mountain.
jayjay said:
What is the definition of ‘free-standing’?
The Crazy Horse statue will be in-the-round, not a relief carving. It is true that it will be fixed to the ground, since it is being carved out of a (former) mountain, so in that respect it will be similar to the two carvings that you mentioned, but otherwise it will basically be a giant, three-dimensional, statue of a man on a horse.
To me, personally, it qualifies as free-standing. Other opinions may vary.
Bill
I’d also incude the Great Buddha Statue in Leshan, China (233 ft.) in the relief list. Many sites describe it as the largest stone carving in the world. Willie, from the link you gave, it appears that Crazy Horse is not going to be a giant 3D man on a horse. The 1/34 scale model indicates that it will be the front of the horse and CH jutting out from part of the mountain and not really free-standing.
This site lists the following statues as among the tallest: [/list][li]Motherland in Stalingrad, Russia (171 ft)[/li][li]Statue of Liberty in NY/NJ (151 ft)[]Christ the Reedemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (98.5 ft)[]Ariminus in Detmold, Germany (85 ft) []S. Carlo Borromeo in Arona on Lago Maggiore, Italy (75.5 ft) []Bavaria in Munich, Germany (59 ft).[/list]All of which are free-standing. They are also all taller than Sri Gomatheswar at just under 59 ft, making it apparently the tallest monolithic statue in the world.[/li]
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Buddha statues, it’s that everyone claims that their Buddha is the largest. But the real tallest Buddha is evidently in Tokyo. It is 118 m (387 feet tall). Many sites credit it as the tallest statue in the world. But I can’t find a good picture of it. The height may include a pedestal. All this websearching has just served to confuse me even more. Figures can range wildly (My second link claims that Motherland is 270 ft tall, but that don’t jibe with the 52m figure… my head hurts)
Apparently, a bunch of Brits are gearing up to make an enormous Buddha in Northern India. It will be free-standing and almost 500 feet high.
It’s a shame that I can’t find a more detailed picture of The Tokyo Buddha or Motherland anywhere, it looks impressive. Other than Liberty and Christ, it’s hard to find pictures of these big statues.
Anway, to sum up, it seems that this Tokyo Buddha statue might have the Motherland beat by quite a bit. But any further clarification would be welcome.
I’d guess they are referring to the statue of Buddha in statue of Buddha in Ushiku, a city just outside Tokyo. This site lists it as 120 meters, but I guess they round off to the nearest 10m. (Sorry, the site is in Japanese, but you can see the photo.)
It looks like a free-standing statue to me though. Since it is taller than the Motherland, why does it not qualify as the tallest statue?
Thanks all for your help.
What does “Monolithic” mean in terms of the statues?
Is is carved out of one piece of stone? Is Motherland one piece of concrete? Any one have any ideas on how that could be made to stand? It can get downright confusing with all the terms one could use to make your statue the tops.
But I guess that lots of places want to claim the superlative something. The biggest ball of string or the longest sub sandwich or whatever. Where do I find such as that?
scr4, I don’t see any reason why the Ushiku Buddha shouldn’t be the tallest.
Stella, there is a list here of the world’s major structures. It lists the tallest/biggest/etc. of many categories. Incidentally, it lists the world’s tallest statue as being the Tokyo Buddha (apparently the one scr4 has a link to) at 394 ft.
And the dictionary definition of monolithic is “formed or composed of material without joints or seams”. I’m assuming that the definition as applied to statues. I’m not sure if the steel-reinforced concrete Motherland would be monolithic. But I wouldn’t be surprised if several statues claim to be the “world’s tallest monolithic statue.” Like I’ve said before, I’ve run across a lot of flat-out incorrect information.
By the way, I notice a “85m” figure on the Ushika Buddha website, too. What does that refer to? I’m just wondering if the 120m figure includes the pedestal. We might as well be consistent and not include pedestals, but my Japanese is a bit rusty…
I always thought it was the CN Tower. 
I was asking about statues, not all structures or buildings. The CN tower is the tallest structure, as far as I know. But statues seem to be a less well defined catagory.
Stellablue I guess you were not around for either of the two rather contentious debates about the CN Tower.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40900
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=31546
No I was not. Thanks to you BobT I can dispel my ignorance on that matter. Many thanks.