Many fantastic constructions vie for your attention in the city of Ashbagad in Turkmenistan. White marble skyscrapers, beautiful fountains, golden (rotating!) statues, and monumental follies celebrating the country’s founding father all dominate the skyline, dazzling first-time visitors – such as Guinness World Records™ Editor-in-Chief, Craig Glenday – with their unexpected beauty. It’s just not what you’d expect in a former Soviet desert state.

Now, towering above all else, is a new record-breaking creation that’s as startling and as arresting as the other creations alongside it: the world’s tallest flagpole. At 133 m (436 ft 4 in), it’s the tallest unsupported pole of its kind, carrying a flag as large as two tennis courts!

Mr Glenday was lucky enough to watch the topping out of the pole from an exciting helicopter ride that circled the site the day before it was completed. The 11-piece pole is, in a word, enormous! The individual pieces were created in Dubai, UAE, and shipped to Ashgabad by trucks. A 500-tonne (1.1 million-lb) crane was then used to join them together, creating a giant, stainless-steel taper that’s 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) wide at the bottom and 0.75 m (2 ft 5 in) at the top. The total weight comes to incredible 135 tonnes (297,000 lb) – and that’s without the flag!

The flag was raised in the blessedly cool morning of Sunday, 29 June 2008, ¬the birthday of Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow, ¬in the presence of the Mayor of Ashgabad and the construction team responsible for the flagpole. As a wind band cranked out the national anthem, the flag crept up the mammoth pole, taking about 10 minutes to reach the top. Once there, it unfurled in all its glory: 1,837 m² (19,773 ft²) of green adorned with a strip of colour inspired by the world-famous Turkmen carpets.

At 133 m (436 ft 4 in), the flagpole is taller than the:

tallest statue: Tokyo Buddha (120 m; 393 ft 8 in) and the
tallest airport control tower: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (130 m; 425 ft).

As well as a fitting gift to the people of Turkmenistan, the flagpole is also a symbol of the country’s unity and might. This beautiful desert state has literally stuck its flag in the sand and announced to the world: here we are!

16 July 2008