Statue of Unity

통일의 상

The Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world. It stands 182 metres (597 feet) high on a small river island in the Narmada River, in the state of Gujarat in western India. Counting its base, the whole structure reaches about 240 metres.

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At a glance

Country: India
Location: Gujarat, India
Built: 2018
Height: 182 m
Type: Statue

Quick answers

Where is Statue of Unity?

Statue of Unity is in Gujarat, India.

When was Statue of Unity built?

Statue of Unity was built in 2018.

How tall is Statue of Unity?

Statue of Unity is about 182 m tall.

A 182 m statue of independence leader Sardar Patel, the tallest statue in the world.

The statue shows Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), a leader of India's independence movement who became the country's first deputy prime minister and home minister. After independence, Patel helped bring the many separate princely states together into one India, which is why the statue is named for unity. It was designed by the Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar and opened on 31 October 2018, Patel's birthday. It stands facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam, about 3 kilometres upstream, and millions of people now visit every year.

How it was built

Building the statue took about 57 months from planning to finish, and the company Larsen & Toubro employed more than 3,000 workers and 250 engineers. Inside is a strong core of concrete and steel, and the outside is covered with thousands of bronze panels. The panels were cast at a foundry in China, because no foundry in India was big enough, then shipped across the sea and fitted together near the site. The statue's legs and sandalled feet make it narrow at the bottom, so engineers added two huge 250-tonne dampers, heavy weights that help keep it steady in strong winds and earthquakes.

What's inside

The statue is hollow and divided into zones. At the base are a museum about Patel's life, a memorial garden and an exhibition area. Fast lifts inside the concrete legs carry up to 26 people at a time to a viewing gallery 153 metres up, around the level of Patel's chest, in just over 30 seconds. The gallery can hold up to 200 people, who look out over the Narmada River and the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

Why it's famous

When it opened, the Statue of Unity became the world's tallest statue, rising 54 metres higher than the previous record holder, the Spring Temple Buddha in China. Guinness World Records lists it as the tallest statue. Its height of 182 metres was chosen to match the 182 seats in Gujarat's state assembly. The project also had critics: some local tribal villagers protested about land taken for the surrounding tourist area.

Fun facts

It depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first deputy prime minister.
Its bronze skin is made of 565 large panels and about 6,000 small ones.
Farmers across India were asked to donate old iron farming tools, and the scrap iron was used in the statue's foundation.
The statue can be seen from about 7 kilometres away.
It was built to stand up to winds of 180 km/h.
In its first year, about 2.9 million people came to visit.