Situated 3.5km downstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Sadhu Hill on the river bed of the Narmada in Gujarat, the statue is of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950), the founding father of the Republic of India.
After independence in 1947, Patel was elected the first deputy prime minister of India. Also known as the architect of independent India, he integrated more than 562 princely states to build a united India. Hence a statue as tall as the stature of Patel is a befitting tribute to the 'Iron Man of India' as he was popularly known.
A comparison of the heights of other tall statues in the world shows how towering the Statue of Unity is. For instance: Spring Temple Buddha in China is 12 m high, Guanyin of Nanshan in China is 108m high, the Statue of Liberty in America is 93m high, the Great Buddha in Thailand is 91m high, the Motherland Calls in Russia is 91m high, and Christ the Redeemer in Brazil is 38m high.
The statue has been sculpted by none other than Ram Sutar - at 93 years young, the most celebrated sculptor of India. The gigantic civil construction of the statue and its surrounding areas has been done by Larsen and Toubro (L&T). L&T has the legitimate claim of constructing world's tallest statue in a record time of 33 months. The statistics issued by the company reveals that in the construction of the 'Statue of Unity', 212,000m3 of concrete, 6,000 tonnes of structural steel, 18,000 tonnes of reinforced steel and 3,550 tonnes of bronze, including cladding, have been used.
Built at a cost of INR2979 Crores, the construction was carried out by 250 engineers and 3,400 construction workers. The statue has been built to withstand strong winds at 180kmph. It is also strong enough to withstand earthquakes measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale at a depth of 10km and within a radius of 12km. Likewise, to protect the statue from floods, its base has been kept above the highest flood level recorded over a 100-year period in the area surrounding the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
Unlike most of the other tall statues in the world which have broad bases, the Statue of Unity is slender at the base. This is due to the walking pose of Sardar Patel. There is also a gap of 6.4m between the two feet because of the pose. This posed a great challenge to the structural engineers who were competent enough to address this problem along with others.
Apart from the Statue of Unity, the area around it has been developed as a major tourist hub. Among the main attractions are; a Museum on Sardar Patel's Life, Bharat Bhavan Exhibition Hall, Tribal Museum and Handicraft Market, Valley of Flowers, and a facility to appreciate the natural scenery from an altitude of 153m.
On the auspicious occasion of the inauguration on the 143rd birthday of Sardar Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself wrote a historical essay - published in the Tribune. Modi states, "Statue of Unity is a symbol of both the unity of hearts and the geographical integrity of our motherland. It is a reminder that divided, we may not be even able to face ourselves. United, we can face the world and scale new heights of growth and glory."
Article originally published on World Architecture Community.
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