A video shared on Reddit in July 2024 authentically showed the “largest statue in the world” — India’s Statue of Unity.
Reaching just below 600 feet, the Statue of Unity in India is touted as the world’s tallest statue at the time of this writing and measures nearly twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.
A video shared to Reddit on July 5, 2024, claimed to capture the impressive structure in footage purportedly recorded while driving along a road. At the time of this writing, the video had received more than 31,000 upvotes in a post on the r/BeAmazed subreddit.
Snopes analyzed media reports and genuine footage of the Statue of Unity, as well as investigated the statue’s geospatial data available through Google Maps and Google Earth, and concluded the video was authentic. We therefore rated this claim as “True.”
However, because to the low angle of the filming device pointed towards the statue, there may have been an element of forced perspective occurring in this photo. As Snopes previously reported, forced perspective is an optical illusion that makes objects look farther away, closer, smaller or larger than they are depending on their relationship with the camera. (Check out this Snopes article for more examples of widely shared photos using forced perspective.)
After its completion in 2018, major media outlets, including Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, The New York Times and The Guardian, shared photos and videos of the statue’s impressive scale. At the 21-second mark in the video below, a size comparison shows India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi standing next to the big toe of the statue:
Following its construction, Modi also posted an aerial perspective of the statue on X:
Although we could not definitively verify the exact location of where the video was filmed, Snopes digitally analyzed the surrounding area using Google Maps and Google Earth. Because the statue was said to face the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River, and the video showed the back of the statue on the right of the screen, we concluded the video was taken from a location northwest of the statue.
The footage also contained a curb with black and white markings, street lights and decorations attached to the lights. These details could all be seen in Google Maps images captured on the same road northwest of where the video appeared to be taken.
(Snopes compilation using Google Maps)
The tourism company Gujarat Tourism reported the statue, located in the western Indian state of Gujarat, was built as an “ode to the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.” Vallabhbhai was a politician in the early 20th century described by the Indian National Congress as being tasked with unifying India’s states following the nation’s independence from British rule in 1947.
Gujarat Tourism also noted that the statue is located “against the backdrop of the dramatic Satpura and Vindhyachal hills,” adding:
The colossal monument towers over River Narmada, a tribute to India “from the people of Gujarat” to the leader who placed people’s welfare first. The Statue of Unity overlooks the vast surrounds and the river basin of the Narmada River and the sprawling Sardar Sarovar dam. It stands on the Sadhu Bet hillock, connected by a 300-metre bridge, which offers access from the mainland to the statue.
As a part of an outreach programme for the project, the state government had asked Indian farmers to donate their used farming equipment to collect iron needed for the statue of Sardar Patel. Eventually, about 5000 tonnes of iron is believed to be collected. Details of the construction and history of the leader can be seen in an in-house museum, inside the statue.
Public domain images available online also showed the statue towering over the surrounding valley, further suggesting the video was authentic.
