CIDISS. The Garuda Wisnu Kencana Statue (GWK) was finally inaugurated on Saturday, September 22, 2018, the statue was established after 28 years, one of the tallest sculptures in the world finally completed in Jokowi’s government, located in Ungasan Village, South Kuta, Badung. Bali. The art work that stands firm is made of 21,000 steel rods weighing 2000 tons, and coated with copper and brass.
Viewed from a height, the Statue of GWK is listed as the second highest statue in the world, because the spring Buddhist temple in China measures 128 meters, while the Statue of GWK has a height of 121 meters, the Laykyun Sekkya Buddha Statue in Myanmar is only 116 meters high, as well as the Statue Of Liberty has a height of 93 meters.
It took 28 years to complete the GWK statue, this meant that the construction of the GWK statue was built by the four eras of the President’s leadership. The idea of building first appeared in 1989, this idea was present at the meeting of two ministers in Soeharto’s era to meet Nyoman Nuarta, had stopped because of the minimal funds in the era of the economic crisis, finally in 2013 the GWK continued to be rebuilt, and it was only completed on August 2018 in the era of President Jokowi.
In addition to having high artistic value, GWK has several International certifications including “Windtech” trial conducted on windtest wind resistance, and from Canada (RDWI) cavity testing periodically, so that GWK will be able to survive hundreds of years as said by President Joko Widodo “With that combination, this GWK statue will be able to survive for approximately 100 years and I am sure that in the next 100 years this statue will still be the work of the civilization being discussed, which is the pride of the nation and the cultural heritage of the Indonesian people.” Jokowi said.
GWK is a statue made of a mixture of steel and brass with a height of 121 meters, this statue will be the largest copper statue in the world which is done only by welding techniques and simple equipment. GWK was built on an open area of 4000 square meters called “Lotus Pond”.
By: Rikky, S *)