The World’s Tallest Statue ( India's Iron Man )

The Iron Man is Our Sardar!

Statue of Unity

 

 

Vallabhbhai Patel, India's 'Iron Man', was born on October 31, 1875. A lawyer and a political activist, he played a leading role during the Indian Independence Movement. Renowned as the architect of independent India, Sardar Patel united 562 princely states to build the Republic of India.

In 1897, Vallabhbhai passed his high school and started preparing for law examination. He went to pursue a degree in law and travelled to England in 1910. He completed his law degree in 1913 from Inns of Court and came back to India to start his law practice in Godhra, Gujarat. For his legal proficiency, Vallabhbhai was offered many lucrative posts by the British Government but he rejected all. He was a staunch opponent of the British government and its laws and therefore decided not to work for the British.

On 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of him, called the 'Statue of Unity', in Gujarat. It is the tallest statue in the world with a height of 182 metres. The statue depicts Sardar Patel, the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, in a dhoti and a shawl, towering over river Narmada.  

Built at a cost of Rs. 2,989 crore, the statue depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Home Minister, wearing a traditional dhoti and shawl, towering over the Narmada River. Iron was collected from all over the country for the statue of Sardar Patel, also known as the Iron Man of India. At 182-metre, the statue is touted as the world's tallest - it is 177 feet higher than China's Spring Temple Buddha, currently the world's tallest statue.

The statue has been designed by Padma Bhushan-winning sculptor Ram V Sutar and has been built by Larsen and Toubro and the state-run Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. It took about 250 engineers and 3,400 labourers to construct the statue in 33 months.

The statue will have a viewing gallery at the height of 193 metres from the sea level which can accommodate 200 visitors at a time. This gallery, at 153 metres height, will offer a view of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, its reservoir, and the Satpura and Vindhya mountain ranges.

The Sardar Patel statue is filled with 1,700 tonnes of bronze and 1,850 tonnes of bronze cladding made up of 565 macro and 6,000 micro panels on the outside.