List of the largest monoliths in the world
The following tables list the largest monoliths in the world according to their weight (in t ). For the purposes of this list, a monolith is a stone that has been detached from the mother rock by human hands and consists of a single piece.
description
When using monumental stones, the real technical challenge is the transport from the quarry and the installation at the destination; this suggests a division into four categories, namely those monoliths that
- → Monoliths were left unfinished in the quarry
- were moved to their destination via land and possibly water → transported monoliths
- have been hoisted into an upright position at their destination ( pillars , etc.) → erected monoliths
- were lifted vertically at their destination ( architraves , etc.) → monoliths lifted up
The latter two operations require the use of cranes , which have been used in the Greco - Roman cultural area since the end of the 6th century BC. Are detectable.
Caution: The weight information is practically nowhere based on weighing , but estimates of the volume and density of the stone (weight = volume × density). Determining precise dimensions is often made more difficult by the fact that the monoliths have meanwhile broken, are in the built-up state or - such as colossal statues - do not have an easily calculable geometric shape. Normally, no rock samples are taken to determine the type of rock, but standard values are used (e.g. 2.75 t / m³ for marble ). This leads to a wide range of weight information in the specialist literature, so that the numerical material can only be used to a limited extent and should be understood as an indicator of the order of magnitude rather than an exact value.
Monoliths in the quarry
This list shows monoliths that have remained in the quarry and are mostly not completely separated from the bedrock on the underside.
image | Mass in t |
Name / location | Type | place | builder | comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1,650 | Unnamed Monolith II | Building block | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | 19.6 m long, 6.5 m wide, at least 5.5 m high; only discovered in 2014; lies next to the stone of the pregnant woman |
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1,242 | Unnamed Monolith I | Building block | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | 19.5–20.5 m long, 4.34–4.56 m wide, 4.5 m high; only discovered in the 1990s |
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1,100 | Unfinished obelisk | obelisk | Aswan ( Egypt ) | Old Egypt | 41.75 m long, 2.5–4.4 m wide |
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1,000 | Stone of the Pregnant Woman (also "Stone of the South") | Building block | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | 20.31–20.76 m long, 4–5.29 m wide, 4.21–4.32 m high |
207 | NN | Column shaft | Mons Claudianus ( Egypt ) | Roman Empire | Approx. 17.7 m long |
Transported monoliths
This list shows monoliths that were transported over land and possibly also by water.
image | Mass in t |
Name / location | Type | place | builder | comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1,250 | Thunder stone | Boulder | St. Petersburg ( Russia ) | Russian Empire | Pulled 6 km overland, then ship transport |
|
1,000 | Ramesseum | statue | Thebes ( Egypt ) | Old Egypt | Almost 19 m high, red Aswan granite , around 1260 BC Chr. |
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∅ 800 |
Trilith / Jupiter Temple from Baalbek |
Building blocks, three | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | Podium of the Temple of Jupiter |
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∅ 700 | Colossi of Memnon | Statues , two | Thebes ( Egypt ) | Old Egypt | The north of the two statues is composed of several stones after a partial collapse and restoration in Roman times. |
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550-600 |
Wailing Stone / Wailing Wall |
Building block | Jerusalem ( Israel ) | Ancient Israel (Jews) | |
|
517 | Great stele from Aksum | stele | Aksum ( Ethiopia ) | Aksumite Empire | Large stele lying (upright height 33 m) behind the 25 m high stele (Obelisk von Axum) returned from Italy in 2005 |
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∅ 350 | Jupiter Temple of Baalbek | Building blocks, seven | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | Podium of the Temple of Jupiter, stone layer under the three 800-ton trilithos |
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350 | Big menhir | megalith | Locmariaquer ( France ) | Megalithic culture | In the 5th millennium BC Built in BC |
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> 200 | Sacsayhuamán | Building block | Cuzco ( Peru ) | Inca | Wall built in the second half of the 15th century, the largest stone is 9 m high, 5 m wide, 4 m thick and was transported 20 km overland |
Crane moving monoliths
This list includes monoliths that were transported over land and possibly also by water and brought into their final position at their destination with cranes .
Erected monoliths
Monoliths that are known or suspected to have been pulled into an upright position by cranes.
image | Mass in t |
Name / location | Type | place | builder | comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
600 | Alexander Column | Column shaft | St. Petersburg ( Russia ) | Russian Empire | Established in 1834 |
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361 | Vatican obelisk | obelisk | Rome ( Italy ) | Pope Sixtus V. | Relocated and erected by Domenico Fontana in 1586 |
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285 | Pompey column | Column shaft | Alexandria ( Egypt ) | Roman Empire | Erected in 297 AD |
Elevated monoliths
Monoliths that are known or assumed to have been lifted from the ground by cranes.
image | Mass in t |
Height in m |
Name / location | Type | place | builder | comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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230 | Mausoleum of Theodoric | Domed roof | Ravenna ( Italy ) | Ostrogoth Empire | ||
108 | 19th | Jupiter Temple | Cornice block | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | ||
63 | 19th | Jupiter Temple | Architrave - frieze block | Baalbek ( Lebanon ) | Roman Empire | ||
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53.3 | ≈34 | Trajan's Column | Capital block | Rome ( Italy ) | Roman Empire | Dedicated in 113 AD |
See also
Remarks
- ↑ Last installer
Individual evidence
- ^ Coulton 1974, p. 7
- ↑ a b Lebanese-German research team discovers the world's largest ancient stone block in Baalbek. German Archaeological Institute , November 21, 2014, accessed on November 23, 2014 .
- ↑ Ruprechtsberger 1999, p. 17
- ↑ Klemm & Klemm, 1993, p. 323f.
- ↑ Ruprechtsberger 1999, p. 15
- ↑ Maxfield 2001, p. 158
- ↑ Scaife 1953, p. 37
- ↑ Adam 1977, pp. 42-45
- ↑ Schulz; Seidel 1997, p. 193
- ↑ a b Adam 1977, p. 52
- ↑ Isler 2001, p. 236f.
- ↑ Isler 2001, p. 236
- ↑ Lancaster 1999, p. 428
- ↑ Adam 1977, pp. 50f.
- ↑ Heidenreich, Robert; Johannes, Heinz 1971, p. 63
- ↑ a b Coulton 1974, p. 19
- ↑ Lancaster 1999, pp. 419, 426
literature
- Adam, Jean-Pierre (1977): "On the subject of trilithon de Baalbek: Le transport et la mise en oeuvre des mégalithes", in: Syria , vol. 54, no. 1/2, pp. 31-63
- Coulton, JJ (1974): "Lifting in Early Greek Architecture", in: The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Vol. 94, pp. 1-19
- Heidenreich, Robert; Johannes, Heinz (1971): Theodoric's tomb in Ravenna , Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden
- Isler, Martin (2001): "Sticks, Stones, and Shadows. Building the Egyptian Pyramids", University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-3342-2
- Klemm, Rosemarie; Klemm, Dietrich D. (1993): Stones and Quarries in Ancient Egypt , Springer, Berlin, ISBN 3-540-54685-5
- Lancaster, Lynne (1999): "Building Trajan's Column", in: American Journal of Archeology , Vol. 103, No. 3, pp. 419-439
- Maxfield, Valerie A. (2001): "Stone Quarrying in the Eastern Desert with Particular Reference to Mons Claudianus and Mons Porphyrites", in: Mattingly, David J .; Salmon, John (Ed.): Economies Beyond Agriculture in the Classical World , Leicester-Nottingham Studies in Ancient Society, Vol. 9, Routledge, London, pp. 143-170, ISBN 0-415-21253-7
- Ruprechtsberger, Erwin M. (1999): "From the quarry to the Jupiter temple of Heliopolis / Baalbek (Lebanon)", in: Linzer Archäologische Forschungen , Vol. 30, pp. 7–56
- Scaife, CHO (1953): "The Origin of Some Pantheon Columns", in: The Journal of Roman Studies , Vol. 43, p. 37
- Schulz, Regine; Seidel, Matthias, Ed. (1997): Egypt. The world of the pharaohs , Könemann, Cologne, ISBN 3-89508-541-3