About the Statue of Unity:
Dedicated to the founding father of India, the man who united the entire Indian subcontinent into one and popularly nicknamed as ‘the iron man of India’, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, this statue has garnered the attention of everyone for being the tallest building in the entire world. Situated in the westernmost state of Gujarat, since this was the place where he had spent most of his early life, including childhood and most of his youth life, by the banks of river Narmada, this statue stands majestically tall facing the Sarovar dam. Ever since it’s opening in 31st October this place has seen a huge wave of domestic as well as foreign tourists who wish to gaze at this grand architectural work of wonder.
About Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel:
Lovingly nicknamed as ‘the iron man of India’, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had initially served as India’s very first deputy prime minister along with being the very first home minister of the country. Before assuming office he was an Indian barrister as well as a statesman along with being the senior leader for the Indian national congress. He has been recognized as a powerful politician and also as the leading man who had forged the relationship between various states and united India as a whole, making it the ‘republic of India’. He has also been credited with playing a vital role in India’s struggle for independence by acting as a de facto commander in chief for the Indian army. The statue of Unity was created to commemorate his efforts and victories as well as acknowledge his contributions towards the betterment of our nation.
Interesting Facts:
- Surpassing the heights of massive statues like Christ the redeemer in Brazil (38 meteres), the motherland calls in Russia (91 metres), statue of liberty in USA (93 metres), Guanyin of Nanshan, in China (108 metres) and Spring temple of Buddha in China (128 metres), Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world, standing at a height of 182 metres. It is double the height of statue of liberty and five times the height of Christ the redeemer.
- The construction of the statue required the efforts of almost 3,000 workers along with 300 different engineers who built it in an unbelievable time span of just 4 years. All these engineers were from Larsen and Toubro who worked with complete dedication to make this statue a reality.
- For construction purposes almost 129 tonnes of iron implements was acquired from almost 100 million farmers across 169,000 different villages covering all the states of India. 70,000 tonnes of cement was utilized for its construction along with 6,000 tonnes of structural steel and 1,700 metric tonnes of bronze. The bronze constitutes for the outer most layer of the statue.
- The outer cladding of the bronze layer was done by a Chinese company called Jiangxi Toqine (JTQ). It is believed that in 100 years the color of the entire statue will change from its current state to green due to the naturally occurring process of oxidizing.
- The statue of unity has the capacity to withstand a wind speed of almost 180 km along with being able to withhold itself during the times of earthquake measuring up to 6.5 in the Richter scale.
- Present inside the statue’s legs are four high-speed lifts and each of these lifts can carry almost 26 people in just 30 seconds. From here you will be able to have a magnificent view of the surrounding.
- Present inside the statue is a 153 metres long viewing gallery which can hold almost 200 people. You will be treated with a panoramic view of the grand and picturesque Sardar Sarovar dam as well as the Satpura and Vindhyachal mountain ranges.
- Along with the statue there is also a museum, conference facilities, a 3 star lodging with 128 rooms as well as a food court and a memorial garden present inside the premises. Along with all this there are also several amenities for guests available.
- This new pride of Gujarat has three layers to make it even stronger where the innermost layer is created with concrete cement, middle layer is a steel structure and the outermost layer is made up of 8 mm of bronze.
- The statue is so grand and majestic that it can be viewed from a distance of 7 kms.
About the Maker:
Ram V. Sutar is an Indian sculptor and he is credited with creating more than 50 iconic structures in the last 40 years of his career life. He has received Padma Bhushan in the year 2016 and he is also a Padma Shri recipient for the year 1999. His latest achievement involves designing the tallest statue in the world, statue of unity.
Location:
The statue of unity covers an overall area of almost 5 acres and is surrounded by an artificial lake which covers an area of almost 3,000 acres. The construction of this lake was undertaken by the building company – Larsen and Toubro who had received an amount of almost 3,000 crores for constructing this classic work of art. The construction for this majestic and elaborate representation of unity had kick-started on 31st October and came to an end by mid-October of 2018, ever since then tourism to Gujarat and especially this statue has increased substantially and has gathered the attention of both national as well as international travelers. From Ahmedabad, this statue can be reached after covering a distance of 200 kms. It is strategically situated in between the Satpura and Vindhya mountain ranges close to the town of Kevadia which will be connected to the statue location by a highway of 3.5 kms.
Visitation Timings: 9 am to 6 pm. It remains open for all days of the week.
Entry Fee: The entry ticket for the exhibition deck will cost you rupees 350/- which will include a trip to the top of the statue. If you do not want to go up to the observation deck then the ticket will be of rupees 120/- for adults and people above the age of 15.
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