Abu Dhabi to Get World's Biggest Sculpture 'Mastaba'

American sculptor and experimental artist Christo Javacheff’s latest project 'Mastaba'—the world's largest permanent sculpture—will be built in Abu Dhabi. The sculpture will be much bigger in scale and rival Egypt's pyramids.

The sculpture has been inspired by Islamic architecture. The flat-topped pyramid, estimated to cost pound 212 million, will be 492 feet high—just taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza and three times the height of Nelson's Column.

It is intended to be a landmark for Abu Dhabi in the desert, in the same way the pyramids are for Egypt and the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, with two million visitors expected annually.

Construction of Mastaba will take 30 months, with hundreds of laborers involved. A German company has been commissioned to supply the colored barrels.

The United Arab Emirates rulers have approved a site near Liwa oasis close to the border with Oman in the south-east of the country.