Statue of Unity: World’s Tallest Statue

Building world's tallest statue over the Narmada Valley is an homage to the Iron Man of India: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Called as The Statue of Unity, the huge bronze behemoth is 182 m tall. If we look about the dimensions, the Statue is 100 times longer than a man’s average height. Its gargantuan size isn’t, however, the only reason for its becoming the nation’s pride and a wonder of the modern world.

Statue of Unity (Pic Credit : Siddhesh Chiplunkar)

The Statue Of Unity was inaugurated by our Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the anniversary of Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel 31st October. The moto to build statue is to honour one of India’s greatest leader; who brought together a nation of myriad ethnicities, cultures and beliefs. And the Statue of Unity reflects that values.

The Statue of Unity is made of bronze, steel and concrete, nearly 5000 tonnes of metal is donated from the Loha Campaign. This statue is not only the world’s largest statue but it made a record to built in shortest time that it took only 33 months to build statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

If you are one of those folks who envy the USA for Statue of Liberty or China for its Spring Temple Buddha Statue then embrace yourself for the news that has made into the book of world records. Standing tall on the bank of Narmada river, the statue symbolizes the message of peace and unity that the man himself believed till his last breath.

Observation Desk View (Pic Credit: Shruti Kambli)

The ticket for observation deck view would cost you INR 350, which would include the trip to the top of the Statue Of Unity. If you wish to not opt for observation ticket, the ticket would cost INR 120 for adults with age 15 and above, for children, it’s INR 60. The statue ticket includes: “Valley of flowers, memorial, museum, audio-visual gallery and Sardar Sarovar Dam”. There are two ways to book tickets for the world’s tallest statue, one is offline and other is online. You can book online tickets available on statue of Unity website link is www.soutickets.in or else can buy ticket at the entrance of statue.

How to Reach:

The Statue is located around 90 kilometers from Vadodara in Gujarat. There buses available from main bus station of Vadodara to Statue of Unity.

View from Observation Gallery (Pic Credit: Shruti Kambli)

Features of Statue of Unity:

· The Gujarat tourism has built an entire infrastructure on the hilly terrain with a 3 star hotel, audio visual gallery light and sound show, and museum at the bottom of statue.

· Sculptor Ram V. Sutar, designer of the statue, took special care to ensure that the statue’s face resembles Patel’s facial features. For the process, around 2,000 photographs from archives were studied. Historians and people who had seen the “Iron Man” were also consulted.

· The viewing gallery is at + 193 meter level and will have one view of the river on its way downstream and other windows that allow view inside the statue, its skeleton. The most attractive of the views in the gallery is from the front side of the statue, facing the dam from which one can observe the whole visitor centre, the dam, the reservoir and the reserve forest.

Statue of Unity Full View (Pic Credit: Shruti Kambli)

· From a distance, it appears as if Sardar Patel is walking on water towards the Sardar Sarovar dam.

· The statue can survive earthquake measuring up to 6.5 on Richer Scale.

· At the Statue Core, there are two high speed passenger elevators which will take you to the statue’s chest where the viewing gallery is located. It can accommodate 200 tourists at a time.

· There is 320 meter long beautiful designer bridge which connects Sadhu Island to the main land, there is second option to reach there is boat ride.

One of the marvellous creation of our country. A perfect weekend gateway for the people and a must visit destination for us. The patriotic feeling just at a glimpse of this astounding statue is completely worth experiencing.

- Sarthak Niwate info.sarthakfeeds@gmail.com