Bengaluru, Nov11,: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the 108 feet statue of Bengaluru founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda on Friday. The statue has been built to commemorate the contribution of Kempegowda towards the development of Bengaluru. This is the “first and tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city”, according to the World Book of Records.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai shared a certificate from the World Book of Records and wrote on Twitter, “A matter of pride for us that the Statue of Prosperity is the first and tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city as per World Book of Records. An apt tribute to Bengaluru’s founder Kempegowda. Standing at 108 ft, it symbolises his vision of a Global City.”
Called the Statue of Prosperity, the statue has been sculpted by Padma awardee Ram V Sutar using 98 tonnes of bronze and 120 tonnes of steel. Sutar is also known for building the Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Kewadia and Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Bengaluru’s Vidhana Soudha.
The 108-foot-tall statue, which has earned the honour of being the “first and the tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city”, has been constructed in a 23-acre heritage park at the Kempegowda International Airport, where the new Terminal 2 was also inaugurated.
Called the ‘Statue of Prosperity’, it weighs 218 tonnes 98 tonnes of bronze and 120 tonnes of steel and also carries a sword weighing four tonnes, which was brought to the Bengaluru airport from Delhi last month in a special truck.
The cost of the statue is approximately Rs 84 crore and has been created by renowned sculptor and Padma Bhushan awardee Ram Vanji Sutar — the man responsible for the Statue of Unity in Gujarat and the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Bengaluru’s Vidhana Soudha.
The ‘Statue of Prosperity’ has also made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first and tallest statue of a city’s founder.
The announcement of the statue setting a world record was made by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on 9 November.
The plan to install the statue at the airport was announced by the previous chief minister, BS Yediyurappa, in September 2019. The announcement was made after the Vokkaliga community led a massive protest in Bengaluru over the alleged targeting of its members, including Congress leader D K Shivakumar and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy by central probe agencies.
The Prime Minister inaugurated the swanky terminal 2 of the Kempegowda International Airport earlier in the day. He was also seen flagging off the Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express at the Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna (KSR) railway station in Bengaluru.
