Landmark Asia
Statue of Unity
The Statue of Unity is a giant statue of a man in India. It is the tallest statue in the world. People ride a lift up inside it to look out.
The Statue of Unity is a 182-meter bronze statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Deputy Prime Minister, on an island in the Narmada River in Gujarat, India. Inaugurated in 2018, it is described by India's tourism ministry as the world's tallest statue, and visitors can ride up to a viewing gallery 153 meters high.
The Statue of Unity, a 182 m figure of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel designed by sculptor Ram V. Sutar, stands on Sadhu Bet hillock in the Narmada River near the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Built from October 2013 and inaugurated on October 31, 2018, it has twin concrete cores, a steel frame and a skin of prefabricated bronze panels, with tuned mass dampers to limit sway.
Photo: Snehrashmi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Statue of Unity
The Statue of Unity is in India.
It shows a man named Sardar Patel, wrapped in a shawl. It is 182 meters tall. It stands on a little hill in a big river.
The Statue of Unity stands on a small hill called Sadhu Bet in the Narmada River, in the state of Gujarat, India. A 300-meter bridge connects it to the riverbank.
It is 182 meters tall. India's tourism ministry and the engineers Arup both call it the world's tallest statue, and Arup says it is almost twice the height of the Statue of Liberty. Inside, lifts carry visitors up to a viewing gallery 153 meters above the ground.
The statue towers over the Sadhu Bet hillock in the Narmada River, joined to the bank by a 300 m bridge, near the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia in Gujarat. India's Ministry of Tourism gives its height as 182 m and calls it the world's tallest statue; Arup, its structural engineers, adds that it is almost twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.
The ministry says the height was chosen to match the number of seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. From the viewing gallery at 153 m, visitors look out over the Narmada, the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the Vindhyachal and Satpura hills.
- Where
- Sadhu Bet hillock in the Narmada River, Kevadia, Gujarat, India
- Height
- 182 m
- Inaugurated
- October 31, 2018
- Viewing gallery
- 153 m up
A statue for Sardar Patel
The statue honors Sardar Patel. He was a leader who helped bring India together.
Building started in 2013. It opened in 2018, on his birthday.
The statue honors Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of independent India. Arup describes him as a leading politician who campaigned for India's independence from Britain and helped unite the country.
India's tourism ministry says the project was first unveiled in 2010 and construction began in October 2013. The statue was inaugurated on October 31, 2018, the 143rd anniversary of Patel's birth.
Patel served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of independent India (Ministry of Tourism); Arup calls him a leading politician who helped unite India and campaigned for independence from Britain.
The ministry dates the project's first unveiling to 2010 and the start of construction to October 2013, and the inauguration to October 31, 2018, Patel's 143rd birth anniversary. Arup, brought in by the contractor Larsen & Toubro first to support its bid and then to finish on schedule, describes the challenges it found: soft, unstable ground from repeated river flooding, a remote site with no major roads, regular earthquakes, strong winds from the nearby dam and even a river teeming with crocodiles.
Concrete cores, steel frame, bronze skin
Inside the statue are two tall concrete towers.
A steel frame holds the bronze outside in place. The bronze was made in big pieces and lifted up by crane.
Two oval concrete cores rise inside the statue from the foundations, through Patel's feet and up to his shoulders. They hold the statue steady and carry the lifts. A steel framework links the cores to the bronze skin that gives the figure its shape.
To save time, the skin was made away from the site as about 600 large panels, each roughly 6 by 5.5 meters, built from smaller 2-by-2-meter bronze panels. Cranes lifted them into place in 27 rings. Arup says this cut installation time by more than half.
Arup designed twin oval concrete cores rising from the foundations through the feet to the shoulders; they stabilize the statue and house the lifts to the gallery at the chest. A complex 3D steel framework connects the cores to the bronze facade. Because movement in the support structure could crack a conventionally welded bronze shell, the surface was divided into about 600 large panels in 27 rings, each about 6 m by 5.5 m and made of 2 m by 2 m panels welded together on lightweight steel trusses, sand-cast in a specialist foundry and hoisted by crane. Flexible joints let the statue flex with temperature and wind; the face, hands and feet were assembled in place.
Two tuned mass dampers, one on each core, reduce vibration; the tourism ministry gives each as 250 tonnes and says the statue was engineered for winds of up to 180 km/h and a magnitude 6.5 earthquake within 10 km depth and 12 km distance.
Five zones, a gallery and a museum
At the bottom of the statue is a museum about Sardar Patel.
High up in the chest is a viewing gallery. From there you can see the river, a dam and the hills.
The sculptor Ram V. Sutar designed the statue as an enlarged version of his statue of Patel at Ahmedabad's airport. Patel is shown with his head held high, wrapped in a shawl, in a dhoti and sandals.
The statue is divided into five zones, and three are open to visitors. The lowest has a museum about Patel's life and an exhibition area. Lifts in the leg cores, each carrying 26 people, reach the viewing gallery in just over 30 seconds. The gallery holds up to 200 people.
The tourism ministry says Sutar developed the design after studying statues of Patel across the country, enlarging his own statue at Ahmedabad International Airport; the dhoti-clad legs and sandaled feet make the base taper.
Of five zones, three are public: zone one, from the base to the shins, holds the exhibition area, mezzanine, memorial garden and a museum with a 15-minute audio-visual presentation; zone two rises to the thighs; zone three reaches the viewing gallery at 153 m, served by two lifts in each leg tower that carry 26 people and climb in just over 30 seconds. Zone four is for maintenance, and zone five is the head and shoulders.
- Sculptor
- Ram V. Sutar
- Lifts
- two in each leg core, 26 people each
- Gallery holds
- up to 200 visitors
- Bronze panels
- about 600 large panels in 27 rings
The Statue of Unity today
In the photo, the giant statue stands against a blue sky.
Tiny people walk along a path below it. Rows of white poles line the path.
In the photo, the bronze statue of Patel towers over the building at its base, which has a patterned front. Visitors walk along a wide path toward it between rows of white poles fitted with lamps.
Arup reports that the statue now attracts 30,000 visitors a day. Around it are gardens such as the Valley of Flowers, along the Narmada River.
The photo looks along the approach walkway, lined with white poles and planters, to the base building with its patterned facade and the figure above it, shawl draped over the shoulders and hands at the sides; groups of visitors give the scale.
Arup reports some 30,000 visitors a day, and the project won the Best Tall Non-Building Award of Excellence at the 2022 CTBUH Awards. The tourism ministry lists nearby attractions including the Valley of Flowers (Bharat Van), 24 acres along the Narmada with over 300 kinds of flowers, and the Sardar Sarovar Dam, 163 m high.
Amazing facts
-
Crocodiles live in the river near the statue!
Arup's engineers found that the river around the building site was teeming with crocodiles.
Among the site hazards Arup lists are soft flood-laid ground, no major roads, earthquakes, winds from the dam and a river 'teeming with crocodiles'.
-
The lift ride up takes about half a minute.
The lifts reach the 153-meter viewing gallery in just over 30 seconds.
Two lifts in each leg tower, carrying 26 people each, climb to the 153 m gallery in just over 30 seconds.
-
The statue is a giant copy of a smaller statue at an airport.
The design is an enlarged version of a statue of Patel at Ahmedabad International Airport.
Ram V. Sutar studied statues of Patel across India and enlarged his statue at Ahmedabad International Airport for the design.
-
The bronze skin can move a little in wind and heat.
Flexible joints between the bronze panels let the statue flex and 'breathe' with changes in temperature and wind.
Arup used flexible joints between panels so the shell could move with temperature and wind instead of cracking like a welded bronze shell might.
Words to know
- statue
- a figure of a person or animal made of stone, metal or another hard material
- bronze
- a brown metal made mostly of copper and tin
- core
- the strong central part inside a tall structure that holds it up
- tuned mass damper
- a heavy weight inside a tall structure that moves to reduce swaying
- dhoti
- a long piece of cloth wrapped around the waist and legs, worn in South Asia
- prefabricated
- made in parts somewhere else and put together on site
Discovery challenge
-
How tall is the Statue of Unity?
How tall is the Statue of Unity?
What height does India's Ministry of Tourism give for the Statue of Unity?
- 182 meters
- 18 meters
- 1,820 meters
Show the answer
182 meters
182 meters, super tall!
182 meters, almost twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.
182 m, matching the seats of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.
-
Who does the statue show?
Whom does the Statue of Unity honor?
Which leader, India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, does the statue depict?
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
- A king of long ago
- A famous athlete
Show the answer
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Sardar Patel!
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a leader who helped unite India.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, inaugurated on his 143rd birth anniversary.
-
Which river flows around the statue?
On which river does the statue stand?
On a hillock in which river does the statue stand, near the Sardar Sarovar Dam?
- The Narmada
- The Ganges
- The Nile
Show the answer
The Narmada
The Narmada River!
The Narmada, on the Sadhu Bet hillock.
The Narmada, at Sadhu Bet, joined to the bank by a 300 m bridge.
-
What is the outside of the statue made of?
What metal covers the outside of the statue?
Of what are the roughly 600 large facade panels made?
- Bronze
- Gold
- Plastic
Show the answer
Bronze
Bronze, a brown metal!
Bronze panels on a steel frame.
Sand-cast bronze panels on lightweight steel trusses.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate the Statue of Unity on the Narmada River in Gujarat and describe it as a 182-meter statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel inaugurated in 2018.
- Explain how a very tall statue is held up by inner cores and a frame, with a skin of panels.
- Discuss why engineers prefabricate parts away from a difficult building site.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why do you think countries build statues of people from their history?
- What problems would a remote river island cause for a building team?
- Why might flexible joints be safer than welding every panel together?
Try at home or in class
- Build a figure from a cardboard tube core with paper panels taped onto it in rings from the bottom up, and see how the rings stack.
- Hang a small weight on a string inside a tall box and push the box gently to see how a hanging weight swings against the movement.
Key vocabulary: statue, bronze, core, tuned mass damper, dhoti, prefabricated
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Statue of Unity , Incredible India, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India
- Statue of Unity: engineering the world's tallest statue , Arup
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.