Big, Bigger, Biggest - The Tallest Statue

Today we will see something that is tall, and thus it fits into our 'Big' category. Today we will see facts on the Tallest Existing Statue. This credit goes to the Spring Temple Buddha. The Criteria to be remembered is that the statue must be still standing and it should include only the height of the Statue itself, ignoring the additional height of the pedestal on which it stands.

The Spring Temple Buddha (photograph on the right) currently holds the world record as the Tallest Existing Statue in the world. Located in Lushan, Henan in the People's Republic of China, this statue is 128m (420 ft.) high, surpassing the previously held record of 116m held by the Laykyun Setkar in Myanmar. The Spring Temple Buddha depicts the Vairocana Buddha. It was completed in 2002 and stands on a 25m high pedestal, thus taking the total monumental height to 153m. The height of the statue includes a 20m Lotus Throne. It is planned that the hill on which the statue stands will be shaped in to 2 further pedestals, taking the total monumental height to 208m.

Big, Bigger, Biggest - Stadia

Today we are going to see about big things in the sports arena. Today we have facts about the Biggest Current Non-Auto Racing Sports Stadium in the world in terms of Seating Capacity. Before beginning, remember that there is a lot of criteria to be met in this fact, it is that the Stadium should be still standing, it should not house Auto Racing (as the seating capacity is cited differently by different sources) and it is selected on the criteria of seating capacity. This is done to increase the factual accuracy of today's content, thus avoiding mistakes.

So the Stadium that meets our criteria is the Rungrado May Day Stadium (photograph on the right) situated in Pyongyang, North Korea. It has a seating capacity of about 150,000, making it the Largest Non-Auto Racing Sports Stadium in the World. It is a multi-purpose stadium used for mass games, football and athletics. It has a total floor space of more than 207,000 sq.m and the pitch is over 22,500 sq.m. It has eight storeys and is about 60m high. The stadium has 80 exits and ten lifts. It was built in two and a half years on the picturesque Rungra Island in the Taedong River, and commissioned on May 1, 1989.

Big, Bigger, Biggest - The Biggest Residence

Today we are going to see something that is really big and is very unique. Today we will see about the Biggest Residence:

The Biggest Residence in the world in terms of Area is the Istana Nurul Iman (photograph on the right) Palace which is the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei. Hassanal Bokiah, the present Sultan of Brunei, currently resides in this palace, that is approximately 200,000 sq.m in area. The name 'Istana Nurul Iman' literally means 'Palace of the Light of Faith'. It is located in Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. It is also the Biggest Presidential Residence in the world. In contrast to its sprawling area, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official Residence of the President of the Republic of India is 19,000 sq.m.

Big, Bigger, Biggest - The Biggest Record Book

Today we have something that is not big in size or volume, for today we are going to see some facts about the Biggest Record Book (read: The record book selling most number of copies, for the number of copies sold, not the size or volume of the book, is big). Let us see something about the Biggest Record Book in terms of number of copies sold:

So the Guinness Book of World Records (logo on the right) has the Guinness World Record for The Best Selling Copyright Book in the world. Considering that it is not very big in size, it has been added in this series in terms of Number of Copies Sold. It has sold about a 100 million copies worldwide, with the 100 millionth copy being sold in November 2003. It was first published in October 1955 by Guinness Superlatives, a subsidiary of Arthur Guinness Son Co. (Park Royal) Ltd and has since gone global, selling in some 37 languages. It has been publishing a book every year since 1955 and has had various authors. It broke the previous existing World Record in June 2001.

Big, Bigger, Biggest - The Biggest Democracy

The ongoing series 'Big, Bigger, Biggest' shows everything that is the biggest in their own class. This also may include the words 'Large' and 'Great' and other relating words. The topic for today is 'Democracy'. We will see facts about the World's Largest Democracy (World's Biggest Democracy) today with the help of certain criterion. We had seen about Democracy in the series 'Republics, Monarchies and Dictatorships' previously. Firstly, We will see what exactly is a democracy:

Democracy is a form of a political government that is carried out directly by the people or by elected representatives (elected by the people). We are today going to see the 'Biggest Democracies' divided by specific criterion of Area, Population and Population Density.

The Biggest Democracy by Area: The world's Biggest Democracy by Area is The United States of America. At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million sq.km) and with about 309 million people, the United States is the fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest both by land area and population. It has the world's oldest surviving federation and the government is a form of democracy called representative democracy.

The Biggest Democracy by Population: The Biggest Democracy by Population is India. At 3,287,240 sq.km (1,269,210 sq.miles) and with about 1.3 Billion People, it is the seventh largest country by area and the second largest country by population. The constitution of India is the most longest and exhaustive than of any other independent nation in the world.

The Biggest Democracy by Population Density: The Biggest Democracy by Population Density is Singapore. At 710.2 sq.km (274.2 sq mi), Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast Asia. With a population of about 0.4 million people and a population density of about 7022 per sq.km, it is the world's second sovereign state in terms of population density and the World's Biggest Democracy considering its population density.

More 'Big' coming up tomorrow....

Big, Bigger, Biggest - Empires

We will see something today about the Biggest Empire which is or was the biggest at its peak. An empire is called so when a particular sovereign state extends itself over other external territories. The criterion in this fact used to select the Biggest Ever Empire is 'The Landmass of the Particular Empire at their Greatest Extent'. So, the empire that meets this criterion i.e the Biggest Empire was the British Empire (At its peak, for the British Empire still exists today). Let us see something about the British Empire:

At its height, the British Empire was the Largest Empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost Global Power. By 1922, the British Empire had the population of about 458 million people, one-quarter of the world's population at that time, and covered more than 13,000,000 square miles (33,670,000 sq.km) approximately a quarter of the Earth's total land area. Because of the British Empire's territories around the globe, it was often said that 'The sun never sets on the British Empire.' The time period between 1815-1914 is referred to as Britain's 'Imperial Century' by some historians. The process of decolonisation of the British Empire had shortly begun after the Second World War. Though shortened, the British Empire still exists today, with the United Kingdom retaining sovereignty under 14 territories outside the British Isles, together known as The British Overseas Territories and shares the Head of State with 16 other Commonwealth States, together known as Commonwealth Realm.

More 'Big' coming up tomorrow....

Big, Bigger, Biggest - Telescopes

We begin the brand new weeklong series 'Big, Bigger, Biggest' today. Well, as the name suggests, I will be attempting to post some of the world's biggest objects in this one week. We will start today with Telescopes.

So a telescope is an instrument designed for observation of any remote object that is generally very far away from the telescope. There are three main types of Telescopes. They are Refractor Telescopes, Reflector Telescopes and Combined Lens-Mirror Systems. In this post, we will briefly discuss the biggest telescopes of the 2 most widely used types of Telescopes- The Refracting and the Reflecting Telescopes.

The Biggest Optical Refracting Telescope: The Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900, with an objective lens of 1.25m, was the Largest Optical Refracting Telescope in the ever constructed. It was built as the centerpiece of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900. Due to its extremely large size, the telescope was mounted in a fixed horizontal position, and it was also difficult to be pointed at astronomical objects and was not suited for scientific use.

The Biggest Optical Reflecting Telescope: The Large Binocular Telescope located on 10,700-foot Mount Graham in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona and is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory is one of the world's highest resolution and most technologically advanced optical telescopes. It was built in 2004 and has an aperture of 464.6 approxiamately.

If there is any mistake regarding the factual accuracy in this fact, please be free to point it out by commenting or mailing us as different sources list different material. More 'Big' coming up tomorrow...