Sri Lankan Christmas tree with a Santa and sled, in distance BOC & Colombo WTC.
Location
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Height
72.1 m (236 ft 6.58 in)[1]
Open
24 December 2016
Cost
US$80,000
Materials
Iron, wood, plastic net
Notable
Tallest artificial Christmas tree
The Sri Lankan Christmas tree is the world's tallest artificial Christmas tree.[1][2] It was built on the Galle Face Green in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the tree is 72.1 m (236 ft 6.58 in) tall and opened on Christmas Eve 2016.
The cone-shaped tree is a steel-and-wire frame made from scrap metal and wood, and covered by plastic netting. It is decorated with approximately one million natural pine cones painted gold, green, red and silver colors. It has 600,000 LED bulbs which illuminate the tree at night.[3] On the top of the tree there is a 6-metre-tall (20 ft) Christmas star with bulbs, weighing about 60 kg (130 lb). The tree cost 12 million Sri Lankan rupees (about US$80,000).[4] The tree was constructed by 150 employees of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Ports and Shipping with support from other parties.[5]
Construction work began in August 2016 but was abandoned in the first week of December after the Sri Lankan Catholic Church criticised it as "waste of money", and added "Construction work should be abandoned. Christmas is an occasion for sharing funds with the needy, not to waste money on lavishness... The market economy is using religion as a tool for selling Christmas."
Later, work on the tree recommenced after a meeting with Catholic Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo.[6][7] Originally the tree was planned to be 100 metres (330 ft) tall but the height had to be reduced to 72.1 metres (237 ft) due to the delays in construction. A 6-metre-tall (20 ft) Santa Claus with a sled was placed near the tree.[5]
The tree broke the previous world record for the tallest artificial Christmas tree, which was 56 metres (184 ft) tall and constructed in Guangzhou, China in 2015 by GZ ThinkBig Culture Communication Co. Ltd.[8][9]
^ ab"Largest artificial Christmas tree". 14 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
^"SL's Christmas tree enters Guinness world records". 13 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
^Warakapitiya, Kasun (25 December 2016). "Unforeseen events but organisers say world's tallest Christmas tree up". Sunday Times.
^Mallawarachi, Bharatha (25 December 2016). "Sri Lanka claims world's tallest artificial Christmas tree". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016.
^ ab"World's tallest Christmas tree unites Sri Lanka". Al-Jazeera. 24 December 2016.
^"Sri Lanka claims world's tallest artificial Christmas tree at 73 metres". ABC. 25 December 2016.
^"Sri Lanka 'scrap material' Christmas tree abandoned after Church complaint". BBC. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^"Largest artificial Christmas tree". Guinness World Records.
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