The ''Statue of Unity'' is the world's tallest statue, with a height of , located in Narmada valley, near Kevadia in the state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It depicts Indian politician and

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

activist Sardar Patel (1875–1950), who was the first

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and

home minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

of independent India. Patel played a significant role in the political integration of India. The statue is on the

Narmada River The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

in the Kevadiya colony, facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam, southeast of the city of

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

. The project was first announced in 2010 by

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, then

Chief Minister of Gujarat The chief minister of Gujarat is the head of government, chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose Cabinet (government), council of ministers are Cabinet collective respons ...

, and construction started in October 2013 by Indian company Larsen & Toubro, with a total construction cost of ₹27 billion (US$ million). It was designed by Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar and was inaugurated by Modi, then

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

, on 31 October 2018, on what would have been Patel's 143rd birthday.

History

Then

chief minister of Gujarat The chief minister of Gujarat is the head of government, chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose Cabinet (government), council of ministers are Cabinet collective respons ...

announced the project on 7 October 2013 to mark the beginning of his tenth year as the chief minister of the state. A society named Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET) was formed under the chairmanship of the

, to execute the project. The Statue of Unity Movement was started in 2013 to collect the iron needed for the statue by asking farmers to donate their used farming instruments. By 2016, a total of 135 metric tonnes of scrap iron had been collected and about 109 tonnes of it was used to make the foundation of the statue after processing. A marathon titled ''Run For Unity'' was held on 15 December 2013 in

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

and

in support of the project.

Design and construction

Design

After studying statues of Patel across the country a team of historians, artists, and academics chose a design submitted by the Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar. The ''Statue of Unity'' is a larger version of a statue of the leader installed at Ahmedabad International Airport. Three models of the design measuring 0.91 metres (3 ft), , and were initially created. Once the design of the largest model was approved, a detailed 3D scan was produced which formed the basis for the

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

cladding cast in a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

in China. The design showing Patel's dhoti-clad legs and sandalled feet make the statue narrower at the base with a slenderness ratio that varies between 16 and 19, significantly higher than most tall buildings with ratios between 8 and 14. This presents a challenge to the stability which was addressed in part through the use of two 250-tonne tuned mass dampers. The statue is built to withstand winds of up to and earthquakes measuring 6.5 on the

Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

which are at a depth of 10 km and within a radius of 12 km of the statue. The total height of the structure is , with a base of and the statue measuring . The height of 182 metres was specifically chosen to match the number of seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.

Funding

The ''Statue of Unity'' was built by a Public Private Partnership model, with most of the money coming from the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

. The Gujarat state government had allotted for the project in its

budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

from 2012 to 2015. In the 2014–15 Union Budget, was allocated for the construction of the statue. Funds were also contributed by Public Sector Undertakings under the

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business industry self-regulation, self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropy, philanthropic, activist, or chari ...

scheme.

Construction

A consortium comprising Turner Construction, Michael Graves and Associates and the Meinhardt Group supervised the project. The project took 57 months to complete – 15 months for planning, 40 months for construction and 2 months for handing over by the consortium. The total cost of the project was estimated to be about by the Government. The tender bids for the first phase were invited in October 2013 and were closed in November 2013.

, then serving as the

, laid the statue's foundation stone on 31 October 2013, the 138th anniversary of Patel's birth. Indian infrastructure company Larsen & Toubro won the contract on 27 October 2014 for its lowest bid of for the design, construction and maintenance of the statue. L&T commenced the construction on 31 October 2014. In the first phase of the project, ₹1,347 crore was earmarked for the main statue, ₹235 crore for the exhibition hall and convention centre, ₹83 crore for the bridge connecting the memorial to the mainland and ₹657 crore for the maintenance of the structure for a duration of 15 years after its completion. The Sadhu Bet hillock was flattened from 70 metres to 55 metres to lay the foundation of the statue. L&T employed over 3000 workers and 250 engineers in the statue's construction. The core of the statue used of cement and concrete, 6,500 tonnes of structural steel, and 18,500 tonnes of reinforced steel. The outer façade is made up of 1,700 tonnes of bronze plates and 1,850 tonnes of bronze cladding which in turn consists of 565 macro and 6000 micro panels. The bronze panels were cast in Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts Co. Ltd (the TQ Art foundry) in China as facilities large enough for such casting were unavailable in India. The bronze panels were transported over sea and then by road to a workshop near the construction site where they were assembled. Local tribals belonging to the Tadvi tribe opposed the land acquisition for the development of tourism infrastructure around the statue. Around 300 activists were arrested ahead of unveiling of the statue. People of Kevadia, Kothi, Waghodia, Limbdi, Navagam, and Gora villages opposed the construction of the statue and demanded the restitution of the land rights over of land acquired earlier for the dam as well as for the formation of a new Garudeshwar

subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Ind ...

. They also opposed the formation of the Kevadia Area Development Authority (KADA) and the construction of the Garudeshwar weir-cum-causeway project. The government of Gujarat accepted most of their demands. Construction of the monument was completed in mid-October 2018; and the inaugural ceremony was held on 31 October 2018 (143rd birth anniversary of

Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...

), and was presided over by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The statue has been described as a tribute to Indian engineering skills.

Features

The ''Statue of Unity'' is the world's tallest statue at . It rises higher than the previous record holder, the Spring Temple Buddha in China's

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

province. The previous tallest statue in India was the tall statue of Lord

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

at the Paritala Anjaneya Temple near

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

in the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. The statue can be seen within a radius. The monument is constructed on a river island named Sadhu Bet, away from and facing the

Narmada Dam The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River near the town of Kevadiya, in Narmada District, in the Indian state of Gujarat. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to the Indian states of Guj ...

downstream. The statue and its surroundings occupy more than , and are surrounded by a long artificial lake formed by the Garudeshwar

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

downstream on the Narmada river. The statue is divided into five zones, of which only three are accessible to the public. From its base to the level of Patel's shins is the first zone which has three levels and includes the

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

area,

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

and

roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...

. The first zone also contains a memorial garden and a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

. The second zone reaches up to Patel's thighs, while the third extends up to the viewing gallery at a height of 153 metres. The fourth zone is the maintenance area while the final zone comprises the head and shoulders of the statue. The museum in the first zone catalogues Patel's life and contributions. An adjoining audio-visual gallery provides a 15-minute-long presentation on Patel and also describes the tribal culture of the state. The concrete towers which form the statue's legs contain two elevators each. Each lift can carry 26 people at a time to the viewing gallery in just over 30 seconds. The gallery is located at a height of and can hold up to 200 people.

Tourism

Over 128,000 tourists visited the statue in the first eleven days of its opening to the public on 1 November 2018. It has been included in the

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian politics, political, economy, economic, international security and Defence (military), defence organization of ten member states. It was established in 2001 by the China, People's Republic ...

's '8 Wonders of SCO' list. In its first year of operation, the ''Statue of Unity'' attracted visitors and collected in ticket revenue. By 15 March 2021, 5 million tourists visited the venue. It was visited by 10 million people by November 2022. In five years since opening, the statue attracted over 15 million cumulative visitors.

Gallery

File:‘Statue of Unity’, on the occasion of the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, at Kevadiya, in Narmada District of Gujarat on October 31, 2018 (1) (cropped).JPG, ''Statue of Unity'', as dedicated on 31 October 2018 File:Statue from highway.jpg, ''Statue of Unity'', as seen from the highway File:Statue lawns.jpg, ''Statue of Unity'', as seen across the lawns File:Statue001.jpg, ''Statue of Unity'', seen from the paved approach walkway File:Statue of Unity - View from the other bank of Narmada.jpg, View from the opposite bank of the Narmada File:Statue of Unity - Close Shot from the other bank of Narmada.jpg, Upper portion of the statue viewing gallery at a height of 130 m is also seen. File:Statue of Unity Sign Board.jpg, ''Statue of Unity's signboard across the river'' File:"STATUE OF UNITY"- Kevadia (Gujarat) becomes a "Land of Billion Lights" at night..webm, ''Statue of Unity'', Kevadia at night File:Statue of Unity in 2018.jpg, Skyline of ''Statue of Unity''

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Statue Of Unity 2018 establishments in Gujarat Colossal statues in India Architecture in India Memorials to Vallabhbhai Patel Monuments and memorials in Gujarat Narmada district Narmada River Tourist attractions in Gujarat 2018 sculptures Articles containing video clips World record holders