List of largest monoliths
This is a list of monoliths organized according to the size of the largest block of stone on the site. A monolith is a large stone which has been used to build a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. In this list at least one colossal stone over ten tons has been moved to create the structure or monument.
In most cases ancient civilizations had little, if any, advanced technology that would help them move these monoliths. The most notable exception is that of the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks and Romans, who had cranes and treadwheels to help lift colossal stones.
This article also includes a list of modern experimental archaeology efforts to move colossal stones using technologies available to the respective ancient civilizations.
Most of these weights are based on estimates by published scholars; however, there have been numerous false estimates of many of these stones presented as fact. To help recognize exaggerations, an introductory description shows how to calculate the weight of colossal stones from first principles.
In situ monoliths
This section lists monoliths that have been at least partially quarried but not moved.| Weight | Name | Type | Country | Location | Builder | Comment |
| 8,712 t | Statue of Ahimsa | Statue | India | Mangi-Tungi, Nashik district of Maharashtra | Gyanmati Mataji, 2016 | 121 ft tall |
| 1,650 t | Forgotten Stone | Block | Lebanon | Baalbek | Roman Empire | 19.6 m long, 6 m wide, ≥5.5 m high |
| 1,242 t | Stone of the South | Block | Lebanon | Baalbek | Roman Empire | 19.5–20.5 m long, 4.34–4.56 m wide, 4.5 m high |
| 1,100 t | Unfinished obelisk | Obelisk | Egypt | Aswan | Ancient Egypt | 41.75 m long, 2.5–4.4 m wide |
| 1,000 t | Stone of the Pregnant Woman | Block | Lebanon | Baalbek | Roman Empire | 20.31–20.76 m long, 4–5.29 m wide, 4.21–4.32 m high |
| Gommateshwara statue | Statue | India | Shravanabelagola of Karnataka | Chavundaraya | tall, over wide | |
| 207 t | Granite column | Column | Egypt | Mons Claudianus | Roman Empire |
Moved monoliths
This section lists monoliths that have been quarried and moved.| Weight | Name/Site | Type | Location | Builder | Comment |
| 1,250 t | Thunder Stone | Boulder, Statue pedestal | Saint Petersburg, Russia | Russian Empire, 1770 | Moved 6 km overland for shipment, and cut from 1,500 t to current size in transport |
| 1,000 t | Ramesseum | Statue | Thebes, Egypt | Egyptian Empire | Transported by ship from Aswan |
| 800 t each | Trilithon | Blocks | Baalbek, Lebanon | Roman Empire | Plus about 24 blocks 300 tons each |
| 700 t each | Colossi of Memnon | Statues | Thebes, Egypt | Egyptian Empire | Transported from el-Gabal el-Ahmar over land without using the Nile. |
| 520 tons, 170 tons, and 160 tons | Great Stele, King Ezana's Stele, Obelisk of Axum | Stelae | Axum, Ethiopia | The stelae were moved about. King Ezana's stele and the "Obelisk" of Axum were among seven such monuments set up in Axum in the 4th century AD. The Great Stele was never successfully erected and broke into pieces at its present site. | |
| 400 t | Temple in complex for Khafre's Pyramid | Giza, Egypt | |||
| 300–500 t | Masuda no iwafune | Asuka, Nara, Japan | Large stone structure approximately 11 meters in length, 8 meters in width, and 4.7 meters In height | ||
| 340 t | Levitated Mass | Los Angeles, California, United States | Sculpture by Michael Heizer, 2012 | Moved 106 miles. | |
| 330 t | The Broken Menhir of Er Grah | Menhir | Locmariaquer, Brittany, France | Neolithic | Moved 10–20 km. It once stood but was later broken in 4 |
| 250–300 t | Western Stone, Temple Mount | Block | Jerusalem, Israel | Herod, King of Judea during the Second Temple period | Weight is disputed; a 2006 analysis estimated the depth of this stone at only 1.8–2.5 m, for a weight of 250–300 t. Weight formerly said to be 550 to 600 t. |
| 230 t | Mausoleum of Theodoric | Roof slab | Ravenna, Italy | Ostrogothic Kingdom | |
| 220 t | Menkaure's Pyramid | Giza, Egypt | Fourth Dynasty of Egypt | Largest stones in mortuary temple | |
| 200 t | Sahure's pyramid | Saqqara, Egypt | Fifth Dynasty of Egypt | Largest stones over king's chamber | |
| 200 t | Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites | Korea | Largest stone at the site | ||
| Weight | Name/Site | Type | Location | Builder | Comment |
- Colossal statue of Tlaloc, in Coatlinchan. Made of basalt, weighing 168 tons.
- The Kerloas menhir, Brittany, France. Largest, 150 tons.
- Pyramid of Khendjer at Saqqara, Egypt. 150-ton, one-piece quartzite burial chamber.
- Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Several ashlars, 100 to 130 tons, were transported.
- Sacsayhuamán, wall near Cusco, Peru. Largest stones over 125 tons.
- Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, Greece. Largest lintel stone, 120 tons.
- The Pyramid of Amenemhet III, at Hawara, Egypt. 110-ton, one piece quartzite burial chamber.
- Brownshill Dolmen, 100 metric tons.
- Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy. Granite columns close to 100 tons.
- Fortress of Mycenae, Greece. Largest stones close to 100 tons.
- Menhir de Champ-Dolent, Brittany, France. Menhir of about 100 tons.
- Pyramid of Nyuserre Ini. 12 megalithic limestone beams 10 meters long weighing 90 tons each, forming the roof of burial chamber and antechamber.
- Moai at Easter Island. Largest moai 70 to 86 tons. The tallest one, Paro, was moved.
- Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt. Largest slabs on burial chamber, 80 tons. The granite was transported from Aswan by barge on the Nile river.
- Karnak, Egypt. Obelisk, 328 tons. Largest architraves, 70 tons. Sandstone transported from Gebel Silsila.
- Trajan's Column, Rome, Italy. Pedestal blocks: 77 t
- Ishibutai Kofun in Asuka, Nara, Japan. Largest stone, 75 tons.
- Pantheon, Rome, Italy. Granite columns, 39 feet tall, five feet in diameter, and 60 tons in weight were transported from Egypt by barge.
- Olmec heads, Mexico, gulf coast. Largest Olmec head, almost 50 tons. Transported 37 to.
- Ħaġar Qim, one of the Megalithic Temples of Malta. Its largest stone weighs 57 tons and measures approximately long by tall by thick. The Maltese temples are the oldest free-standing structures on Earth.
- Ashoka Pillars, weighing up to about 50 tons, were transported throughout India to territory ruled by Ashoka.
- Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. Megaliths from 10 to a 50-ton pillar still in its quarry transported up to a 1/4 mile.
- Stonehenge, England. Largest stones over 40 tons were moved ; smaller bluestones up to 5 tons were moved.
- Trajan's column Rome, Italy. Forty-ton drums. The capital block of Trajan's Column weighs 53.3 tons.
- Rameses IV reopened the stone quarries of Wadi Hammamat and had stones dragged across land to the Nile, then freighted on barges to temples and his tomb in Thebes. Some of these weighed over 40 tons.
- Dur-Sharrukin, Iraq. Largest colossal bull, 40 tons.
- Nineveh, Iraq. Largest colossal bulls, 30 tons each, were transported 30 miles from quarries at Balatai, then lifted 65 feet once they arrived at the site.
- Nimrud, Iraq. Largest colossal bull, 30 tons.
- Maeshowe Orkney Islands, Scotland. Largest flagstone, 30 tons.
- Caesarea Maritima, harbor of Caesarea, Israel. Largest stone 20 tons.
- Teotihuacan, Mexico. 22-ton water deity on top of the Pyramid of the Moon.
- Aztec calendar stone at Tenochtitlan, Mexico. 24 tons.
- Palenque, Mexico. The largest stones weigh 12 to 15 tons.
- The Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Largest stones 10 tons.
- Nubian pyramids. Sarcophagus, weighing 15.5 tons, and heavier granite statues up to at least 18 feet tall.
- 400 tonne block of the pyramid temple of Khafre.
- Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Columns close to, if not more than, 100 tons.
Lifted monoliths
Erected in upright position
Monoliths known to have been lifted into an upright position:| Weight | Name/Site | Type | Location | Builder | Comment |
| Alexander Column | Column | Saint Petersburg, Russia | Russian Empire | Lifted in upright position in 1832 | |
| Lateran Obelisk and Obelisk of Theodosius | Pair of Obelisks | Rome, Italy & Istanbul, Turkey | Thutmose III | Lifted in upright position originally in 15th century BC as a pair outside the temple of Amun at Karnak, Thebes; both subsequently shipped to Alexandria in the 4th century AD – one then shipped to Rome and erected in 357 AD by Constantius II and the other to Constantinople and installed in 390 AD by Theodosius I. Both partly broken, now 32.18m and 19.6m high. | |
| Vatican Obelisk | Obelisk | St. Peter's Square, Vatican City | Ancient Egypt | Removed to Rome in ancient imperial times and re-erected. Relocated in an upright position by Domenico Fontana in 1586 for Pope Sixtus V. | |
| 285 t | Pompey's Pillar | Column | Alexandria, Egypt | Diocletian | Column shaft 20.75 m long, of pink granite quarried in Aswan. Erected 298–303 AD and crowned with a grey granite Corinthian capital and 7 m-tall statue in porphyry. |
| Luxor Obelisk | Obelisk | Paris, France | Louis-Philippe I | Relocated and lifted in upright position by Apollinaire Lebas in 1836 | |
| 170 tons & 160 tons | King Ezana's Stele the Obelisk of Axum | Stelae | Axum, Ethiopia | Kingdom of Axum – Ezana of Axum and before. | The stelae were moved about from their quarries. They were the largest Axumite stelae to survive installation; larger attempts failed. The "Obelisk" of Axum was removed from a standing position in 1937, cut into five pieces, and taken to Rome to be re-erected. It was again set up in Ethiopia at its original location in 2005. |