Compiled by Charles Legge.
The Big Rocks and Rollers
Heavyweight champion: The stone pedestal of the Bronze Horseman
Question-What is the heaviest object moved by humans without powered machinery?
This was the Thunder Stone, the pedestal of the Bronze Horseman in Petersburg, Russia.
The rapakivi granite stone, weighing an estimated 1,500 tons, was found in 1768 at Lakhta, 3.7 miles inland
from the Gulf of Finland
Catherine the Great ordered it to be taken to St Petersburg, and the task was given to Greek engineer Marinos
Carburise, he had it placed on an iron sledge running on bronze spheres over a track.
It took 400 men, assisted by capstans operated by 32 men, 9 months to move the stone up to 492 ft a day, all
the while being cut into its final form and weight of 1,250 tons, no animals were used.
At the coast, it was placed on a barge and it arrived in St Petersberg in 1770.
Objects close to this weight were moved considerable distances in antiquity, the now broken 62 ft high Syenite
statue of Ramesses II in Luxor, Egypt, dating from the 13th century BC originally weighed an estimated 1,000 tons
was transported 170 miles by land and water.
The vanished obelisk in the sanctuary of Arsinoe in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably larger, at 138 ft, it was
comparable in size to the unfinished obelisk at Aswan, Egypt, which weighs about 1,100 tons, it was carved in
the region of Nectanebo II (360-343 BC) and erected in the sanctuary by Arsinoe's husband in about 279 BC.
Larger stones have been quarried but not moved, notably at Baalbek, Lebanon.
Three, estimated to weigh 1,750, 1,240 and 1,000 tons, were found in the quarry about 1,000 yards from the
site of Heliopolis for where they destined. The site as completed in about AD 60, but the stones were never used.
Three other stones at the site, each weighing 800 tons, are among the largest moved.
The story that in about 235 BC Archimedes single handed launched a ship, laden with crew, freight and passengers
and using a system of capsules and pulley's, was probably exaggerated.
A more credible account describes Archimedes launching the Syracusia when it was half complete, before fitting
out, with the aid of a few men using a capstan.
It's size was evidently prodigious as it held about 2,000 passengers, 200 soldiers and 1,800 tons of cargo as well
as horses.
By Digby Stevenson, Pevensey, E.Sussex.
written in 'Latin' on the other side in 'Russian'. Peter and his horse which stands on its hind legs, are sitting on
the top of the cliff,facing. West and "leading Russia toward". It is said that the statue is facing west because
Western European countries were the source of inspiration for the tzar's reform ideas of Russian Empire. A snake,
a symbol of betrayal, is trampled by horses.
There are many legends about this statue, one of them saying that while the statue is located in Senatskaya
Square, enemies will not manage to conquer the city of Sankt Petersberg, this legend led the city officials to
protect the statue during the Second World War with sandbags and a wooden structure. The statue escaped the
the war without a scratch.