26 World Record Holders: Tallest and Largest Structures

See some of the world’s greatest architectural and engineering achievements. Here’s a list of the world’s most

notable structures - the highest, most massive and longest.

1. NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building: World’s Tallest Clock Tower

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Standing at 240 meters or 790 ft tall, the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building in Tokyo, Japan, is the tallest clock tower

in the world after the installation of a clock in 2002. The clock was installed to commemorate NTT Docomo’s 10th

anniversary. The clock is 15-meter in diameter and became operational in November 2002. This building is also

the 3rd tallest building in Tokyo.

2. Gerbrandy Tower: World’s Largest Christmas Tree

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The Gerbrandy Tower in the Netherlands is a tower built in 1961 for directional radio services and for FM and

TV-broadcasting. Its height is reduced several times and now stands at 366.8 meters tall. During Christmas time,

lamps are put on the guys and make the tower the biggest Christmas tree in the world. There were plans to limit

these decorations to once every 5 years, but sponsoring has allowed the seasonal lighting to be put up every

year so far.

3. Shanghai World Financial Center: World’s Highest Observation Deck

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The Shanghai World Financial Center, a supertall skyscraper in Shanghai, China, contains the highest

observation deck at a height of 474 meters or 1,555 ft high located on the 100th floor. It is currently the

world’s tallest completed building by roof.

4. Bayer Cross Leverkusen: World’s Largest Illuminated Advertisement

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The Bayer Cross Leverkusen which is hanged on two 118 meter steel tower with a diameter of 51 meters and

weighs 300 tons is the largest illuminated advertisement in the world. The advertisement is for Bayer, the

multinational pharmaceutical company based in Leverkusen. It takes 1,712 40-Watt bulbs to light the display.

In 2003, the Bayer Cross was overhauled completely.

5. Petronas Twin Towers: World’s Tallest Twin Towers

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The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are the world’s tallest twin towers. They were the world’s

tallest buildings, before being surpassed by Taipei 101.

6. Bahrain World Trade Center: World’s First Skyscraper with Wind Turbine

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The Bahrain World Trade Center is a 240 m (787 ft) high twin tower complex located in Bahrain. The building

is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design. Three bridges connect the towers;

each holding one large wind turbine with a nameplate capacity of 225kW each, totaling to 675kW of wind

energy production. These turbines, each measuring 29 m (32 yd) in diameter, face north, which is the direction

from which air from the Persian Gulf, blows in. The wind turbines provide 11% to 15% of the towers’ total power

consumption. They are expected to operate 50% of the time in a day.

7. Suvarnabhumi Airport: World’s Tallest Control Tower

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Suvarnabhumi Airport also known as New Bangkok International Airport has the world’s tallest control tower at a

height of 132.2 meters high. It also has the world’s third largest single-building airport terminal (563,000 m²).

8. Basilica of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen: World’s Largest Memorial Cross

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The cross at the Basílica de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos (Basilica of the Holy Cross of the Valley of

the Fallen) in Spain with a height of 152.4 meters high is the tallest memorial cross in the world.

9. Hassan II Mosque: World’s Highest Minaret

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At 210 meters or 689 ft high, the minaret of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco is the highest in the

World. The mosque is the largest in Morocco and the third largest mosque in the world after. It can accommodate

25,000 worshippers. A further 80,000 can be accommodated in the mosque’s adjoining grounds.

10. Ushiku Daibutsu: World’s Tallest Statue

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Standing at 120 meters or 394 feet tall, the Ushiku Daibutsu located in Japan, is the world’s tallest statue.

It depicts Amitabha Buddha and is plated with bronze. It is also known as Ushiku Arcadia. The statue weighs

4,000 tons. The length of the left hand is 18 m, the face is 20 m the eye is 2.5 m and the first finger is 7

meters. Inside the statue is a four story building, which serves as a museum.

11. Millau Viaduct: World’s Highest Vehicular Bridge

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With one mast’s summit at 343 meter or 1,125 ft, the Millau Viaduct, a large cable-stayed road bridge in France,

is considered as the tallest vehicular bridge in the world. It is slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower. The viaduct is

part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Beziers. The bridge won the 2006 IABSE Outstanding Structure

Award.

12. Kingda Ka: World’s Tallest and Fastest Rollercoaster

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At a speed of 128 miles per hour or 206 km/h, the Kingda Ka, a roller coaster located at Six Flags Great

Adventure in New Jersey, USA, is the fastest roller coaster in the world. The main top hat tower has a height

of 456 feet or 139.5 meters making the Kingda Ka roller coaster the tallest in the world. Due to aviation safety

concerns, the tower is equipped with three dual strobes: 2 mid-way up, and one on the top.

13. Singapore Flyer: World’s Highest Ferris Wheel

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Reaching 42 stories high, the Singapore Flyer, a giant Ferris wheel in Singapore, is currently the largest Ferris

wheel in the world. It has a total height of 165 meters or 541 ft. The Star of Nanchang is shorter by 5 m or 16 ft

and the London Eye by 30 m or 98 ft. Each of the 28 air-conditioned capsules is capable of holding 28

passengers, and a complete rotation of the wheel takes approximately 30 minutes.

14. Henninger-Turm: World’s Tallest Storage Silo

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The 120 meters or 394 feet tall Henninger-Turm or Henninger Tower, a grain storage silo in Germany with a

storage capacity of 16,000 tons of barley, is the tallest storage silo. The 33-story high tower built from 1959 to

1961 and has two rotating restaurants at the height of 101 and 106 meters and an open-air observation deck

at the height of 110 meters or 361 ft. Te tower has been closed to the public while plans to destroy the tower

and replace it with a new one were abandoned.

15. Gliwice Radio Tower: World’s Tallest Wooden Structure

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The 118 meter high Gliwice Radio Tower or Silesian Eiffel Tower, the transmission tower of the Gliwice, Upper

Silesia in Poland is considered as the tallest wooden structure in the world. It is designed to carry aerials for

medium wave broadcasting, but the transmitter is not in service any more.

16. Spire of Dublin: World’s Tallest Spire

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At 120 meters or 390 feet tall, the Monument of Light or commonly called the Spire of Dublin, a large, stainless

steel, pin-like monument located on the site of the former Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin, is regarded as the tallest

spire in the world.

17. CN Tower: World’s Tallest Concrete Tower

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At a height of 553.33 meters or 1,815.4 feet, the CN Tower in Ontario, Canada, a communications and

observation tower, is the world’s tallest concrete tower. Although it was surpassed in height by the still-

under-construction Burj Dubai, it remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas and the signature

icon of Toronto’s skyline, attracting more than two million international visitors annually.

18. Tokyo Tower: World’s Tallest Self-supporting Structure

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Standing at 333 meters or 1,091 feet tall, Tokyo Tower, a communication and observation tower in Tokyo,

Japan, is the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world. It is also the tallest artificial structure in Japan.

It is an Eiffel tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety

regulations.

19. Fuhrlander Wind Turbine Laasow: World’s Tallest Wind Turbine

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A wind turbine named Fuhrlander Wind Turbine Laasow built in 2006 in Brandenburg, Germany which consists

of 160 meter lattice tower that carries a rotor 90 meters in diameter – is the tallest wind turbine in the world.

20. Kiev TV Tower: World’s Tallest Freestanding Lattice Steel Tower

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Standing at 385 meters or 1,263 feet high, the Kiev TV Tower, a lattice steel tower built in 1973 in Kiev,

Ukraine, for radio and television broadcasting, is considered as the tallest freestanding lattice steel construction

in the world. It was made of steel pipe of various diameters and thicknesses. The structure weighs 2,700 metric

tons. The tower is unique in that no mechanical fasteners are used in the structure: every joint, pipe and fixture

is attached by welding.

21. KVLY-TV Mast: World’s Tallest Artificial Structure

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The KVLY-TV mast is a 2,063 ft (629 m) tall television-transmitting mast in North Dakota, USA is the tallest

artificial structure upon the completion of its construction in 1963. The mast was surpassed in height by 57

ft or 17 m in 1974 by the Warszawa Radio Mast near Poland which collapsed in 1991, making the KVLY-TV

Mast again the tallest structure on land.

22. Belmont Transmitting Station: World’s Tallest Guyed Tubular Steel Mast

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Standing a total height of 387.5 meters or 1,271 feet, the Belmont Transmitting Station, a broadcasting and

telecommunications facility, is considered to be the tallest structure of its kind in the world. It is located in

Lincolnshire, England.  It has a guyed tubular steel mast, with a lattice upper section. Taller masts, such as

the KVLY-TV mast in the US, use steel lattice construction. The Belmont Transmitting Station is the tallest

structure of any type in the UK and also the tallest structure within the European Union.

23. Nurek Dam: World’s Highest Dam

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At 300 meters or 984 feet, the Nurek Dam in Tajikistan is currently the highest dam in the world. It was

completed in 1980. The dam is located in a deep gorge along the Vakhsh River in western Tajikistan,

about 75 km or 47 miles east of the nation’s capital of Dushanbe.

24. GRES-2 Power Station: World’s Tallest Chimney

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At 419.7 meters or 1,377 feet high, the flue gas stack of the GRES-2 Power Station or Power Station Ekibastuz,

a power generating station in Kazakhstan and one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world has the

world’s tallest chimney. Locals refer to it as “the Cigarette Lighter”.

25. Anaconda Smelter Stack: Largest Free Standing Masonry Structure

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The Anaconda Smelter Stack is a radial brick smoke stack in Anaconda, Montana, USA. The stack rests on a

concrete foundation and measures 585 feet or 178 m high. The inside diameter of the stack is 75 feet or 23 m

at the bottom and 60 feet or 18 m at the top. The wall thickness ranges from six feet at the bottom to two feet

at the top. It was completed in 1919 and was the tallest masonry structure of any kind in the world. The Stack

remains the tallest and possibly largest free standing masonry structure in the world. An interesting note is that

the Washington Monument would easily fit inside.

26. San Jacinto Monument: World’s Tallest Monument Tower

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At 579 feet or 173.7 meters high, the San Jacinto Monument in Texas, USA is the world’s tallest monument

tower. The monument is topped with a 220-ton star that commemorates the site of the Battle of San Juan,

the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. It is 12 feet or 3.7 m taller than the next tallest, the Washington

Monument.

Hope you enjoyed this. Thank you!

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