The Bailong Elevator (Chinese: 百龙电梯; literally Hundred Dragons Elevator) is a glass double-deck elevator built onto the side of a cliff in the Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie, People's Republic of China, an area noted for more than 3,000 quartzite sandstone pillars and peaks across most of the site, many over 200 metres (660 ft) in height.
In order to ascend to the top of one such pillar, and to avoid a two-hour hike, the elevator ascends its height of 326 m (1,070 ft) in just one minute and 32 seconds, after a 2015 upgrade.[1][2][3][4] It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest outdoor elevator on 16 July 2015[5] and is purported to be the fastest passenger elevator with the largest loading capacity.[3]
Construction of the elevator began in October 1999, and it was opened to the public by 2002.[3] The elevator was built into the quartz sandstone cliff face, with the lower 505 feet embedded inside the mountain wall, and the upper 565 feet consisting of exposed steel derrick.[4]
The environmental effects of the elevator have been a subject of debate and controversy, as the Wulingyuan area was designated a World Heritage Site in 2002.[3][6] Operations were stopped for 10 months in 2002–2003, reportedly due to safety concerns, not environmental ones, because of its location in an earthquake-prone area.[7][4]
^(17 October 2007). Peak attractions, China Daily
^Frommer's China, p. 753 (2010)
^ abcd(17 October 2002). Construction in Scenic Spots: Protection or Destruction?, Beijing Review
^ abcDunnell, Tony (10 January 2019). "Bailong Elevator, Zhangjiajie, China: The world's tallest outdoor lift stretches along the stone pillars that inspired the floating mountains in the movie "Avatar"". Atlas Obscura: Places. Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
^"Breathtaking cliff face elevator in China recognised as world's tallest outdoor elevator". 16 July 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
^Han, Feng. Cross cultural confusion: Application of World Heritage Concepts in Scenic and Historic Interest Areas in China, in The wilderness debate rages on: continuing the great new wilderness debate (Michael P. Nelson & J. Baird Callicott, eds.), at p.261 (2008)
^(6 September 2003). Sightseeing elevators restart at world heritage site, China Daily
The BailongElevator (Chinese: 百龙电梯; literally Hundred Dragons Elevator) is a glass double-deck elevator built onto the side of a cliff in the Wulingyuan...
mainly from Guilin, Huangshan, and Zhangjiajie in Hunan province. The BailongElevator, literally "hundred dragons sky lift", was opened to the public in...
called the "Fernsehturm" ("Television Tower"). Since around 2002 a small elevator company has used the tower for testing and demonstrations. List of towers...
A maximum of 3 people could ride up the elevator, although sources claim it would be crowded. The elevator was powered by an internal combustion engine...
from ThyssenKrupp and one service elevator from Shcherbinsky elevator plant. The machine units of the high-speed elevators are installed at distances of 360...
six elevators are located in the three inverted angles created by the Tower's hexagonal shape (two elevators per angle). Each of the three elevator shafts...
tower each house access stairs and elevators to the first two floors, while at the south column only the elevator to the second floor restaurant is publicly...
District, Donaustadt, near the northern bank of the Danube. Two high-speed elevators transport passengers to the tower's viewing platform at 150 metres (490 ft)...
metres (1,100 feet). The rest of the tower below has a stairwell and an elevator to reach the upper area, which also contains a revolving restaurant, providing...
of the sea, and the leg containing the import and export risers has an elevator that takes over nine minutes to travel from the platform above the waves...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
partly because sections of the tower were open to visitors once the elevators started operating during construction and the tower was still far from...
view from the tower's observation deck. Strong winds also forced two elevators to be shut down, leaving some visitors briefly stranded on the observation...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
commercial space, a parking area for cars and coaches. There are two types of elevators: slow-speed panoramic and high-speed double-decker. The zone from 80 to...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
sports a rotating platform that revolves once every 45 minutes. High-speed elevators reach the cafe from ground level in 40 seconds. On clear days, visibility...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
700 long tons; 3,000 short tons). The central pipe, or core, where the elevator is located, is 4 meters (13 ft) in diameter and made of pipe that is 12 mm...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...
indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower BailongElevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio...