PHOTOS: Top 5 Tallest Statues In The World

Humans have been building massive copies of themselves since they dropped out of the trees and grew opposing thumbs. Whether to venerate a hero or placate a deity, we’ve been at it for millenia. Showing off our money and skills by making huge reflections of ourselves. What a pretentious bunch we are. The oldest statue ever found is just 11 cm high and called the Venus of Willendorf. It dates back to around 24,000 years ago:

Statues are the ultimate selfies.

So I thought I’d have a look at the biggest statues in the world and day dream about going to see them. The top 5 are all in Asia, mostly in China, so the likelihood of me getting to see them in real life is pretty slim. In fact, 25 out of the tallest 30 statues in the world are Asian, and they’re mostly images of Buddha. They love that guy over there, and to be honest he did seem pretty chilled so fair play.

The top 5 I’m going to show you today are, of course, the biggest five in existence, this list will soon change. The next addition to the list will be built in India and it’s set to add another 60 metres to the current record. It will be called the State of Unity and local farmers are currently being called upon to donate broken farm equipment to build the behemoth. The statue is of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was India’s first home minister after independence from Britain and here’s an artist’s impression of what it might look like:

America are joining the race too, you’d think they would be in the top 5 already with their love of all things oversized, but no. In the next few years a mental massive statue of Crazy Horse an Oglala Lakota warrior, will be completed in South Dakota. This will become the biggest statue in the world as long as it beats the State of Unity to completion. Here’s a picture of his massive face so far, look how small the people are: