Estimating the Dimensions of World Monuments

Statue of Liberty, USA

World Monuments Project

The objectives of the project are:

•To research famous human monuments from around the world.

•To show how we can use our own dimensions to estimate the dimensions of the monument.

Each student will:

•Add at least 7 more world monuments to the world map (These may be drawn or cut out and stuck on)

•Write a few paragraphs about the history of each monument.

•Research a dimension of each statue and use their own features to estimate another dimension of the statue.

•Extend the task for extra points.

Example Paragraph and workings:Hisory Paragraph Standing tall at 152 feet, the Statue of Liberty is arguably the most popular monument in the world. Declared a national monument in 1924, it stands on Liberty Island (Bedloe's Island till 1956) where it was dedicated by American President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886.

Built by Frenchman, Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, the "Liberty Enlightening the World" was gifted by the French to the Americans to commemorate 100 years of American independence and also as a gift of friendship. Work on the statue began in France in 1875 and was completed in 1884. The statue had to be dismantled before being shipped to New York in 1885.

Math workings

The mouth is 3ft (=36 inches) wide. Estimate of the thickness of the head from ear to ear.

My measurements

Width of mouth

Length of head

Length of arm

Length of leg

Height

Height of ear

Length of ear

Handspan

Length of forearm

Origins and designRising high above Trafalgar Square in London, England, the monument commemorates the loss of Admiral Horatio Nelson to Napoleon's Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Conceived in 1838, work on the statue began in 1840 and was not completed until dedication in 1843. Designed by architect William Railton in 1838, the statue of Nelson's Column was built by Peto & Grissell. The statue depicts Nelson in a characteristic 18th century pose with a sword at his side. Admiral Nelson is gazing southward toward his four prize naval ships, situated atop flagpoles in the neighboring Pall Mall.

Dimensions

Nelson’s height is 18 ft. Estimate another of his dimensions using your own measurements.

Nelson’s Column, London

Michelangelo's Statue of David – Florence, Italy

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture sculpted by Michelangelo from 1501 to 1504. The 5.17 meter (17 ft) marble statue portrays the Biblical King David, at the moment that he decides to battle with Goliath. It came to symbolize the defense of civic liberties embodied in the Florentine Republic, an independent city state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici themselves. This interpretation was also encouraged by the original setting of the sculpture outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence. The completed sculpture was unveiled on 8 September 1504.

David’s height is 17ft. Estimate another of his dimensions using your own measurements

Great Sphinx of Giza Statue, Egypt

Emblematic of Egyptian civilization, the Great Sphinx statue was already considered ancient by most Egyptians during their 3,000-year history. It is widely believed that the Pharaoh Khafre (or Chephren) had the image constructed to guard his temple. Dating back to the Old Kingdom, the statue was likely built around 2500 BCE. Situated northeast of Khafre's valley temple, amid the many pyramids of the Giza plateau, it sits in an ancient quarry. The Great Sphinx statue faces due east and is thought to be emblematic of the sun god and thus, the pharaoh himself.Likely carved as a warning to potential grave robbers, the Great Sphinx statue depicts a half-lion and half-human with the wings of an eagle. It is not known whether the statue was planned or was an afterthought after construction of the larger temple. A small temple between the paws was added 1,000 years later during the New Kingdom.

The head is 30ft long. Use your own measurements to estimate the width of the head.

Christ the Redeemer StatueTowering almost 750m (2,430 ft.) above the

megalopolis of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Christ the Redeemer statue was erected atop the Corcovado

Mountain in 1931. Perched among lush, semi-tropical vegetation, this monument has become emblematic of

the city along with the annual Carnival parades. Standing 38m (98 ft.) tall, the Art Deco designed

image of Jesus Christ looks below with outstretched arms.

Starting as early as 1850, when Brazil was still a Portuguese territory, local Catholics wanted a

monument of some sort atop the dizzying hilltop park known for its panoramic views. A priest went to

Portugal to find a less than receptive audience in the form of Princess Isabel who refused to fund the

monument. When church and state were officially separated in 1889 by Brazilian independence, the

cause died. The project was awakened in 1921 by the local Archdiocese appealing for funds from local

Catholics in order to build a great monument. It took over 10 years to secure the financing required to finish

the statue of Christ the Redeemer.

The statue is 98ft tall. Estimate another measurement of the statue.

Christ the Redeemer Statue, Brazil

Easter Island Statues (Moai), Easter Island Moai (or mo‘ai) (IPA: /ˈmoʊ.аɪ/) are monolithic

human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

between 1250 and 1500 CE. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but

hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called Ahu around the

island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-fifths the size of their bodies.

The moai are chiefly the 'living faces' (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata

tepuna).[1] The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the

island, but most would be cast down during later conflicts between clans.

The statues' production and transportation is considered a remarkable intellectual, creative, and physical feat.[2] The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high

and weighed 75 tonnes;[3] the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at Ahu

Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if completed, would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a

weight of about 270 tons.

Bronze Buddha, Nara, Japan

in height it measures 14.98m, each eye is 1.02 m wide, the ears are 2.54 m from top to bottom, the face is 5.33m in length, the nose 0.5 m and the pedestal on which it sits reaches 3.05 m from ground level.

The headquarters of the Kegon School of Buddhism, Todaiji was first established as Kinshoji Temple, said constructed by Emperor Shomu in 728AD on Mt. Wakakusayama.The main Buddhist image of the temple is Vairocana Buddha, known throughout Japan and in much of the world as "The Great Buddha of Nara." At 15m in height, it was erected during the reign of the founder, the Emperor Shomu who was promoting the then new religion of Buddhism in order to secure peace and prosperity for his nation. The construction of this Buddha started in 747AD and was completed in 752AD and since the emperor had encouraged the common folk to join this large-scale national project, even priests voluntarily supported the construction by collecting contributions from parishioners and the faithful.In 1180, however, Todaiji Temple was essentially destroyed by Tairano Shigehira and his rampaging hordes and was devastated again during the war of 1567, a time of great civil strife in Japan. The current Buddha, a 1691 reconstruction is housed in The Great Buddha Hall, itself reconstructed in 1709. The width of the restored hall has been reduced in size from that of its predecessors to two thirds of the original and now stands 57m in width and 47.5m in height, a statistic that shows even the power of the Tokugawa shogunate could not complete the work to the same scale as the Emperor Shomu