15 MOST UNREAL Rock Sculptures

rock sculptures that seem to defy gravity massive monuments carved from the earth and beautiful creations from the most skilled artisans all that and more in today's video on the top 15 unbelievable rock sculptures fifteen leshon giant buddha built between the years 713 and 803 during the tang dynasty the lashon giant buddha is a 233 foot tall rock sculpture that depicts the future buddha maitreya it's located near the city of lashon in the sichuan province of china and is at the point where the min river and the dadu river meet carved into the red sandstone bedrock it looks across towards mount me and is the tallest buddha statue in the world despite surviving for more than 1200 years the statue has recently begun to degrade as a result of increasing pollution levels in the area and it's now feared that unless restoration work takes place it may become unrecognizable within a matter of decades to try to help with its preservation it was declared a unesco world heritage site in 1996 which led to a series of structural repairs taking place in the development of a tourist industry around the region to support the huge number of people who travel to see it each year it's now the second most popular tourist attraction in the region with at least two million annual visitors from those who travel from around the world to worship maitreya to those who are fascinated by the intricate carvings that were done so long ago number 14 the portrait of decepalis decibalis was the last king of dacia which was a modern day romania and was notorious because of the lengths he went to in order to retain his kingdom's independence in the face of the roman empire he fought three wars to repel their advances and as a result went down in history as his people's savior it seems fitting then that his face was the one chosen to be carved into a rock face near the romanian city of orsova overlooking the danube river it's the tallest rock sculpture in europe at 180 feet high but amazingly it was only created relatively recently it was the idea of a local businessman called yosef dragon who purchased the rocky outcrop in 1992 and hired 12 full-time sculptors to carve it with traditional tools something that took a decade to complete the first six years were spent dynamiting the rock to get the basic shape right and then the following four were when the finer details were done underneath the sculpture is a latin inscription that translates to mean king decibalis made by dragon to immortalize the famed leader and the man who paid for the artwork number 13 mount rushmore possibly the most famous rock sculpture in the world can be found in the black hills of keystone south dakota and it is of course mount rushmore officially known as the mount rushmore national memorial it was carved between 1927 and 1941 in a project that was designed and overseen by sculptor gutson borglum and the original intent was for it to promote tourism in the area the monument is made up of the likenesses of four american presidents with the aim to reflect the country's birth growth development and preservation there was no doubt in the minds of those involved about which president should be immortalized in this way and they chose george washington thomas jefferson theodore roosevelt and abraham lincoln each head is around 60 feet tall and the mountain itself is 5725 feet above sea level what we now see as a nation defining monument though is actually only half finished the original plans were that each president would be depicted from their head to their waist but the project overran by so long that borglum died before it was finished and his son who overtook it couldn't raise enough funds to fully complete the design what they did was enough though and it succeeded in its aims mount rushmore alone receives around 2 million visitors each year and the tourism industry of south dakota has thrived ever since number 12 golden bridge the golden bridge in vietnam is one of the most unbelievable examples of engineering design in the world it connects a cable car station with an ornamental garden near the city of da nang and instead of having to walk across a steep incline it gives visitors an easier way to walk between the two while giving stunning views out across the surroundings what's unusual about the 490 foot long bridge however is that it's supported by two huge hands that even though they're made from wire mesh and fiberglass have been made to look like they're sculpted from rock since opening in 2018 the bridge has become a tourist attraction in its own right and has now become one of the most visited sites in the region number 11 the lion of lucerne from the beginning of the 17th century a regiment of swiss guards had been stationed to help protect the royal household of france at the end of the century however the french revolution was taking hold this resulted in the massacre of all the swiss guards who were present there at the time it was one of the most devastating events in swiss history and in honor of those who died a memorial sculpture was created in the city of lucerne in 1821 known as the lion monument it depicts a dying lion who has been impaled by a spear and covers a shield that has a symbol of the french monarchy on it it was carved directly into the cliff face it's 33 feet long and 20 feet high and alongside it are the names of the approximately 760 officers who died in the massacre it's dedicated in latin to the loyalty and bravery of the swiss and acts as a reminder of the sacrifices that sometimes need to be made in service mark twain once wrote about the monument as being the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world and it remains one of the most famous monuments in all of switzerland that attracts around one and a half million visitors each year number 10 moai statues the easter island statues are some of the most famous sculptures in the world but despite being so well known this doesn't make them any less impressive known as moai they were first seen by outsiders on easter day in 1722 at a time when they were all still in their original position facing inland thought to have been built by the rapa nui people between 1250 and 1500 there are at least 900 moai statues each of which are the living faces of deceased ancestors more than half of them remain in the quarry where the stone was excavated and carved before being dragged into position and almost all of them have disproportionately sized heads that make up 3 8 of their total size the biggest one is 33 feet tall and weighs more than 90 tons which raises the question of quite how they were transported with relatively primitive methods available to the islands who created them at some point in the 18th or 19th centuries the vast majority of the moai were toppled possibly as the result of inter-tribe fighting or because of the arrival of outsiders but they remain a significant interest to the researchers who help understand the ancient cultures of the region and how they were created and are one of the most recognizable images in the world number nine abu simbel temples egypt is full of incredible structures and artifacts from the advanced civilizations that lived there thousands of years ago but while the pyramids may get the most attention there's a complex on the border with sudan and the small village of abu simbel that's equally as impressive known as the abu simbel temples they're on the side of lake nasser and were carved into the mountainside during the 13th century bc during the reign of pharaoh ramses ii intended to forever remember the king and his wife nefertiti the monuments commemorate his victory at the battle of kadesh and include giant statues of them both the great temple was dedicated to three gods and took about 20 years to construct inside there are four large statues of ramses ii and is generally seen as the greatest structure that was built during his reign amazingly however this isn't the original site where the temples were built in 1968 a dam was constructed that created the lake that they now stand beside and a massive project was tasked with meticulously dismantling the sculptures before reassembling them on a purpose-built hillside now a part of a unesco world heritage site called anubian monuments they're one of the most iconic images that remain from ancient egypt and show just how skilled artisans were more than 3 300 years ago we are constantly adding more people to the top fives production team to bring you all the best content be sure to subscribe with notifications on and hit the like button number eight colossal statue of shapur the first thought to have been built in the 3rd century a.d the colossal statue of shapoor the first is a 22 foot tall monument to the second king of the sassanid empire it can be seen in the shapur cave which is around 4 miles away from the iranian city of bishapur and has particularly in the last few decades become a popular tourist attraction in the region it hasn't always looked this way though because soon after it was created it was pulled to the ground and one of the legs was broken during the arab evasion of iran for centuries it remained laying on the floor and was only in 1957 around 1400 years later that restoration efforts took place it was returned to its pride of place on the pedestal which is 115 feet from the entrance to the limestone cave and a network of access roads and structures were built at the same time to encourage economic prosperity to the surrounding areas incredibly the statue was originally carved from a huge stalagmite that had grown in the cave and a huge amount of care and attention was put into the exquisite detail it's not known who the actual sculptor of the statue was but historians generally regard them as one of the most accomplished artists of the time the colossal statue incorporates elements not seen in any other works from the sasanian empire but despite this researchers are certain they've dated it correctly by analyzing the way that the hairstyle has been depicted number seven the church of saint george near the town of la la bella in ethiopia there's a series of rock carvings that remain some of the most unbelievable in the world known collectively as the rock hume churches of la bella they were commissioned by king gabriel mosque bella the zagway dynasty in the late 12th and early 13th centuries in order to recreate the holy structures of jerusalem in his own kingdom in all there are 11 churches each of which were excavated and dug into the ground those who built them only had basic tools like hammers and chisels to dig trenches around them and a tunnel network that connects them all and while they're all extremely impressive the one that stands out the most is the church of st george because of its ornate design from all angles the whole complex was designated as the unesco world heritage site in 1978 but remains an important site of religious significance for the country's orthodox christian worshipers services continue to be held on a daily basis but there are concerns about the long-term viability of the site a number of conservation and restoration projects have tried to protect the structures from decay but as a result of being carried out poorly the churches are now in a worse state than ever let's hope that funding from the american embassy and the european union will help to rectify this and preserve these incredible sculpted buildings for centuries to come [Music] number six gopachal jain monuments located around the cliffs of the hill on which the guadalupe fort sits in madhya pradesh in the state of india the gopachal jain monuments are a series of carvings that have been dated back to between the 7th and 15th centuries they depict the tirthankaras who are the saviors and spiritual teachers in the jain dharma religion in various meditation positions and according to historical texts this site was chosen because it was where one of them called parshvanath delivered his teachings the carvings themselves are separated into five main clusters the first known as the southeast group is made up of 26 caves in a row across half a mile and feature 13 inscriptions from between 1468 and 1473. the second cluster called the southwest group has the oldest sculptures of all that date to the seventh and eighth centuries while the most visited ones are the urvahi group that can be seen from the road that approaches the site there's also the northwest and the northeast groups that are more difficult to access and are smaller than the other three but still exhibit the same craftsmanship as the others in total there are around 100 monuments some of which are as much as 57 feet tall but it's all the more surprising that any of them are still there in 1527 that region was conquered by the mughal emperor babar and he ordered that all of the statues should be destroyed luckily most of them were too difficult to reach at the time so managed to survive unscathed number five petra jordan originally known as rakemo the city of petra in southern jordan is a region that was first inhabited around nine thousand years ago by the first century a.d it had become the capital city of the nabatian kingdom with a population of as many as twenty thousand residents but the thing that made it such an important historical site is the fact that so much of it was carved directly from the bedrock access to the city is via a three-quarter mile long gorge that's called the sikh which leads to the stunning rock-cut entrance petra is often called the rose city because the color of the rock that it was carved from and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else on earth of all the structures at the site the most famous is undoubtedly al khasna which was built as a mausoleum for king aratus iv in the first century cut from the sandstone rock face it was given the name in modern times which means the treasury because people thought it contained great treasures but these have yet to be found still it's an incredibly detailed sculpture and even what we see today isn't even the full extent of what it would have originally been thanks to hundreds of years of weathering that has slowly eroded away the finer details there's still far more to find at the site of petra 2 with a huge structure only discovered as recently as 2016 which makes you wonder what other marvels are still waiting to be unearthed [Music] number 4. mano del der sierto for the most part the atacama desert in chile is a wide flat expanse covered in sand but there's one place around 40 miles away from the city of antofagasta where a hand quite literally appears to be reaching out of the ground it's a sculpture by chilean artist mario ira zabal it is around 3 600 feet above sea level known as the mano del diazierto or the hand of the desert it's 36 feet tall and was first revealed to the public in march of 1992. according to the sculptor he purposefully exaggerated the features of the hand to emphasize human vulnerability and helplessness and that in his mind it represented a long-lost soul desperately trying to free themselves from the burden of the sand despite being in a fairly remote place it can be seen from route 5 which is part of the pan-american highway and has become quite a popular tourist attraction unfortunately it's also a popular structure for graffiti artists to leave their mark so the hands have to be cleaned every week to keep it looking like new you don't have to travel all the way to chile to explore it for yourself though because google street view has recorded images from all directions and allows you to take a virtual tour around it instead number three the aponine colossus with such a rich cultural history it's hard to go anywhere in greece without seeing a collection of ancient statues and carvings but there are undoubtedly some that are far more impressive than others one of the ones that surprise people the most can be found in the gardens of the villa medici at pratolino which is around seven miles to the north of florence called the epinine colossus it's meant to be the personification of the nearby ebene mountain range and is a huge colossus that's stuck on the border between being a mountain and a man at 35 feet tall his beard is made of stalactites and he has rocky growths all over his body and he's crushing a beast in his hand which spills out water into the pond below there's a lot more to this sculpture than it appears at first though because it's actually hollow and you can walk inside it in there you'll find a network of grottos that are decorated with shells corals pearls and crystals there are paintings of people mining the land for these precious gems inside there are also two fountains which no longer work but it's the head that shows how this sculpture and the surrounding area were intended to be used it too was hollow and has room for a small orchestra and also has a space for a fire which when lit sends plumes of smoke out of the statue's nose rather than simply being an object to look at the colossus was in fact built to be the centerpiece of entertainment at the villa and would have been the talk of the town when it was completed in 1581 number two avucana buddha statue at more than 40 feet tall the avocado buddha statue is a huge sculpture that can be seen near the district of kekirawa in northern sri lanka it was carved directly into the rock face at some point during the 5th century and depicts the abhaya mudra which is a symbolic pose in buddhism to represent protection peace and the lack of fear it's believed to have been carved during the reign of king dattusena possibly during a competition between a master and a pupil to prove who paid the best attention to detail the avocado statue was believed to be the one created by the master and another at cesarua was supposedly done by the pupil as a part of the competition they had to ring a bell when they were finished and according to the legend the master won which is why the caesarea statue is unfinished originally the avocado buddha statue was built within a much larger structure which was probably a shrine and the foundations of its walls can still be seen today even though the building itself has long been destroyed this has worked out for the best however because the statue cannot be seen from all around and it's generally regarded to be the best example of a standing statue that was created in ancient sri lanka now it's a popular destination for pilgrims wanting to pay their respects and also attracts a large number of tourists each year something has led to large-scale redevelopment of the surrounding area to cater to everyone that arrives number one the great sphinx of giza the great sphinx of giza is arguably the most famous rock sculpture anywhere in the world but despite extensive research at the site there are still a number of questions surrounding it it's believed to have been designed and sculpted during the reign of the pharaoh kufri around 4 500 years ago while it depicts a reclining sphinx which looks like a mythical creature it's thought that its face is meant to look like that of the pharaoh it was cut from the bedrock and is 240 feet long and 66 feet high it's the oldest remaining sculpted monument from ancient egypt and it was finished around the same time as the second pyramid at giza it's perhaps no surprise then that something so old has been damaged somewhat in the time since and the sphynx isn't exactly looking its best the nose is missing something that's thought to have been done purposefully around a thousand years ago and it used to have a beard that was removed at some point too studies of the surface have also found evidence of bright colored paint which suggests that the sphynx was once covered in comic book-like colors but again these have long since faded away research at the site is strictly limited for a fear of causing further damage but there are a number of theories about the sphinx that have led many to believe there's more yet to discover there may be hidden chambers within it it may have been built as part of a huge celestial map and there may even be a second sphinx on the other side of the pyramid that's buried beneath the sand the continued interest in a sculpture that's been so often written about showed just why egyptology is so fascinating not only to understand more about ancient cultures but also to unlock their greatest secrets watch our binge watching playlist if you'd like to watch all of our most popular top 15 videos grab a drink grab a snack and get ready to binge you

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 1,150,541

Keywords: Incredible Rock Sculptures, Most Unreal Rock Sculptures

Id: I3oQig3fcoQ

Length: 19min 39sec (1179 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 19 2020