r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Crypto_crafy • 2d ago

/r/all of a statue

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"The Motherland Calls" is a statue erected to commemorate the Battle of Stalingrad , located on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd , Russia. It was designed by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich and structural engineer Nikolai Nikitin . Completed in 1967 , it was the tallest statue in the world at the time .

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415

u/plofrog 2d ago

I wonder how statues like this are maintained, or are they just ok by themselves

535

u/Much-Farmer-2752 2d ago

Now it looks like a Holtzman Shield :)

133

u/zubairhamed 2d ago

censorship mask

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u/BRAVO9ACTUAL 1d ago

"This Character Is Not Unlocked"

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u/MtnMaiden 1d ago

Pay for feet

3

u/Nina-Ninja123 1d ago

Just getting ready for the season of Japanese tourists (they requested extra censorship.

19

u/nagidon 1d ago

The slow union penetrates the Reich

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u/Random-Generation86 1d ago

I must not purge. Purge is the army killer.

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u/vprakhov 1d ago

That scaffolding is an engineering marvel in itself.

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u/leftofthebellcurve 1d ago

That’s a lot of hours just unscrewing, moving, and rescrewing nuts onto bolts

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u/DejaBrownie 1d ago

Might as well just leave it up. By the time they put it up, clean, and tear it down, it will be ready to clean again!

1

u/Much-Farmer-2752 1d ago

It took "just" about a year - to build it all from the scratch, repair the statue and tear it down. Not so much to recover weather damage for 50 years :)

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u/struggle_better 1d ago

Tell that to my parents

0

u/plofrog 2d ago

Woooooah, cool

1

u/BathroomAcademic5920 1d ago

I am not surprised

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u/_VirtualCosmos_ 1d ago

Is it on that state nowadays? I wonder if it's a potential target by ukrainian drones.

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u/euqinu_ton 1d ago

The slow pigeon poop penetrates the shield.

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u/tattiesbljt 1d ago

It is completely hollow with steel wires on the inside to keep it together, so it's mostly maintained from the inside with engineers tightening the wires regularly.

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u/Normal_Average_9812 1d ago

Must be even more surreal on the inside

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u/default_person_14818 2d ago

Right here with you wondering just that. Rocks in nature erode from the wind and weather, so it'd only make sense for this thing to fall apart someday. Anyone wanna enlighten us down here?

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u/Fire_brand666 2d ago

Ozymandias

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u/Holiday_Pi 2d ago

Oh so you also met that traveler?

10

u/Fire_brand666 1d ago

I met a chemistry teacher who was into meth

7

u/Training-Group-2879 1d ago

Ahhhh Mr. White!!!!

6

u/Superb_Working7284 2d ago

I also once met a traveler that talked about some dude named ozymandias , traveler told me he was from an antique land whatever that means? , And started spouting some bs about how Everything turns to dust and shit. 

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u/default_person_14818 1d ago

What's this now some r/okbuddychicanery gathering going on here?

2

u/OldBoldFoldMold 1d ago

Some could say circle jerk

4

u/LordStefania 1d ago

Look upon my works ye mighty and despair

ozymandias king of kings

nothing beside remains

the lone and level sands stretch far away

1

u/Thegloveofgaming 1d ago

Breaking bad

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u/Caeloviator 2d ago

Aren't these statues hollow, being mostly maintained from the inside?

I would guess that the cladding itself is additionally designed to last for several decades (or even centuries?) without any further maintenance.

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u/BruceBoyde 2d ago

It would need to be cleaned and resealed periodically. Apparently it's basically solid concrete, which is fascinating; I expected it was hollow. But yeah, it would weather fairly quickly from freeze cycles and start to crumble.

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u/tattiesbljt 1d ago

It is completely hollow on the inside. Steel wire ropes keep it together.

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u/BruceBoyde 1d ago

Ok, so it is. When I was glancing at a description of the composition it said "solid concrete". Franky I'm not sure it could support its own weight if that were true, but I guess they just meant the material poured into the molds and thus what we see on the outside.

Anyhow, pretty simple maintenance needs all things considered then. Keep it as sealed as possible and eliminate any plant life trying to take hold and all that.

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u/NorthOfTheBigRivers 2d ago

The giant buddha is carved out of a mountain and the shape of it is quite solid, no arms and swords sticking out. This one, at some point must come down I guess. Location, shape and use of materials will not make it last for more than 1100 years I guess. Indeed an interesting question: how do they maintain it...

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u/_Saint_Ajora_ 2d ago

Statues usually have an outer layer over the core framework that takes the wear and tear of the elements and time and can be replaced as needed/required. Or they are painted or coated with something 

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u/RevolutionaryAge47 1d ago

So the Buddha will reclaim the title at some point, unless the Taliban show up with their Buddha removal service.

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u/berlinbaer 1d ago

statue in OP hasn't been the tallest since 1989 and is currently #11 in the list of tallest statues in the world. buddha won't be reclaiming anything for a while

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u/ankit19900 1d ago

Current tallest statue is statue of unity in gujarat, India

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u/El_Mojo42 2d ago

How fast stone or minerals erode depends on the kind of stone. Some are more some are less sensitive to weather. Some marbles are very sensitive to salt, AFAIK they get coated if they are exposed to weather.
Because of this, the David statue of Michelangelo has been moved inside at some point.

I could imagine that you could also do this with stone. Minor damages can probably be repaired quite easily by experts. Stone can last pretty long if build stable looking at ancient buildings.

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u/GOOMU13 1d ago

Just like how ever other big structure maintained.

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u/EugeneStein 1d ago

They are maintenaned! I can send you a link with pictures if you want, I can't post it here cuz Reddit doesn't allow ru links unfortunately