Buzz
Humanity has always been fascinated by massive structures or phenomena, whether natural, like the Grand Canyon, which attracts around five million visitors annually, or human-made, such as the world’s largest fire hydrant in Beaumont, Texas, which draws far fewer visitors. There's something about these giants that makes us feel small.
Interestingly, in our endless search for the most fascinating things, some of the largest wonders have been curiously overlooked.
10. The Airplane
What you see above is the AN-225 'Mriya,' a Ukrainian airliner carrying a Russian space shuttle. This giant, the largest aircraft in the world, not only transports massive cargo and entire concert stages but also has enough space to fit another aircraft—a Boeing 737 can be stored in its cargo hold.
Built in 1988, it was 50% larger than any other plane in existence at the time, a record it still holds today (and there’s only one of these). After being inactive for roughly seven years following the fall of the Soviet Union, it was revived and returned to service in 2001, and it remains in constant use, handling cargo that no other plane on Earth can manage.
Plans for a sibling to the 'Mriya' (meaning 'dream' or 'inspiration') were started, but the project stalled, likely due to the $300 million required to finish it. The AN-225 has an incredible 32 wheels on its landing gear and holds the record for the heaviest airlifted payload, nearly 560 tons—though it can handle a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tons. Its wingspan stretches the length of a football field, and its overall length is nearly as long as its wingspan.
9. The Outdoor Swimming Pool
Most hotel pools are fairly unremarkable—typically small, crowded, and shallow. But the designers of the outdoor swimming pool at San Alfonso Del Mar Resort in Chile went to the extreme to avoid those very descriptors.
In pictures, it resembles a strange, transparent lagoon stretching across the resort’s main beach. Upon closer inspection, it is indeed a swimming pool, and the numbers surrounding it are mind-blowing. Spanning 20 acres, it is over 900 meters (3,000 ft) long—the second-longest pool in Morocco is only 137 meters. Its deepest section reaches 35 meters (115 ft), setting a world record, and it holds 66 million gallons of water. It could fit 20 Olympic-sized pools, took five years and almost $1 billion to construct, and costs about $2 million annually to maintain.
The pool features a sophisticated suction and filtration system with minimal chemicals, making it surprisingly eco-friendly. According to biochemist Fernando Fischmann, whose company designed the pool, 'As long as we have access to unlimited seawater, we can make it work, and it causes no damage to the ocean.'
8. The Cave
In 2009, a local farmer led a group of British explorers to the entrance of a cave he had discovered years earlier in Vietnam’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. They were thrilled at the idea of uncovering a new cave system, but instead, they found an underground river running through the largest cave passage ever discovered.
Take a closer look at the image above; if you missed it, a caver is standing on a rock in the center of the frame. Notice that the cavern's ceiling above him is completely out of view. This cave is situated in a very remote region—previous expeditions likely came very close to finding it, but the terrain is incredibly challenging. The cavern stretches at least five kilometers (three miles) long and features natural skylights where softer limestone has washed away, along with breathtaking ceilings that rise nearly 300 meters (1,000 feet).
7. Vacuum Chamber
Vacuum chambers are designed to replicate the conditions of space: for instance, to observe how matter behaves without gravity or to test components of space suits. While there are some large vacuum chambers, there’s only one large enough to perform environmental testing on a fully assembled spacecraft: the Plum Brook chamber located in Sandusky, Ohio.
The Plum Brook chamber has served as a testing ground for NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a spacecraft designed to eventually carry astronauts to the moon and potentially Mars or even distant asteroids. The chamber itself stands at an impressive height of 37 meters (122 feet), more than enough space to accommodate the 23-meter (75-foot) spacecraft. It boasts a vast volume of 863,000 cubic feet. To truly appreciate the scale of the chamber, you can revisit the opening scene of 'The Avengers,' where Loki steals the Cosmic Cube—filmed right there.
6. Waterfall
Inga Falls, located along the Congo River near Kinshasa in Zaire, is not the tallest waterfall, with a drop of only 21 meters (70 feet). For context, there are three waterfalls in the world that fall over 3,000 feet. It may not hold the title for the widest waterfall either, as it spans four kilometers (2.5 miles), but it is by far the largest in terms of water flow. It discharges more water than any other waterfall globally.
While waterfalls like Niagara and Victoria Falls are known for their sheer size and powerful flow, Inga Falls outshines them in terms of volume. Victoria Falls moves about 38,000 cubic feet of water per second, while Niagara Falls moves around 85,000 cubic feet per second. Inga Falls, however, moves more than 900,000 cubic feet of water per second—over 10 times the flow of Niagara. Its nearest rival, Livingstone Falls on the same river, moves 25,000 cubic feet per second less, and other waterfalls pale in comparison. Niagara and Victoria rank 11th and 15th, respectively, on the global list.
5. Salt Flats
Located in southwestern Bolivia, the Salar de Uyuni, also known as the Uyuni Salt Flat, sits at a staggering altitude of nearly 3,600 meters (12,000 feet)—double the height of Denver, Colorado. The salt crust here is as thick as the air is thin, often several meters deep, and it spans a massive surface area of over 10,000 square kilometers (4,000 square miles).
The region is famous for producing not only vast amounts of salt but also significant quantities of lithium. Beneath the surface of the flats, immense untapped lithium reserves lie, making up an estimated 50-66% of the world's total reserves. Despite its desolate appearance, the area supports one of the largest habitats for pink flamingos, as well as around 80 other bird species.
Another incredible aspect of this area is the thin layer of water that covers the salt flats for much of the year. This seasonal phenomenon transforms the world's largest salt flat into what appears to be the largest natural mirror, reflecting the sky in a surreal, stunning way.
4. Zoo
Determining the world’s largest zoo can be a complex task, depending on how you measure it: by the total area, the number of species on display, or a combination of both factors. The most logical approach is to use both. For example, the Red McCombs Wildlife in Texas spans 12,000 acres and could be considered the largest zoo by land size, but it only hosts around 20 species.
Though it doesn’t hold the title for the largest land area or the most species, travel site Touropia named the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, the world’s largest when combining these factors. Covering 130 acres, the zoo is home to 17,000 animals across 960 species, attracting over 1.5 million visitors annually. Additionally, the zoo features the world's largest indoor desert, the biggest cat complex, and North America's largest geodesic dome.
3. Freestanding Structure
In July 2013, the New Century Global Center opened in China, marking a significant milestone. This massive structure holds the title of the largest freestanding man-made building in the world, with an impressive footprint of nearly 1.8 million square meters (19 million square feet).
It took three years to build this colossal structure, which houses a 14-screen IMAX theater, an ice skating rink large enough for international competitions, a full-scale replica of a Mediterranean village, and, naturally, a water park. The water park alone has the capacity to accommodate 6,000 visitors at once, with 2,000 hotel rooms available for guests. The scale of the New Century Global Center is hard to fathom—inside, you could fit 20 Sydney Opera Houses, more than 300 football fields, or even the entire city of Monaco.
2. Video Screen
Arena Corinthians, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is a massive stadium currently nearing completion. With a seating capacity of almost 50,000, it will rank as the 11th-largest stadium in Brazil and will host several FIFA World Cup matches in 2014. While the stadium boasts a sleek, modern design, it’s the gigantic video screen that makes it truly stand out—the entire front of the building is one enormous video display.
This colossal screen will showcase images, video, and scoreboard data, all visible to anyone who happens to be looking in the direction of the stadium. Standing 20 meters (65 feet) tall and stretching an impressive 170 meters (560 feet) across, the screen is made up of 34,000 LEDs, making it the largest video screen in the world by far.
To put things in perspective: when the massive video screens at Cowboys Stadium were unveiled in 2009, Americans were amazed. However, the Cowboys’ screens don’t even rank in the top five largest video screens in the world, and they are less than one-third the length of Arena Corinthians’ monumental facade.
1. Power Station
For nearly two decades, the Chinese government pressed forward with the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, despite concerns both domestically and internationally about the environmental impact and the displacement of tens of thousands of people. Officials downplayed these issues throughout the project. Only after the dam’s completion, at an estimated cost of $23 billion, did China acknowledge that there may have been legitimate environmental concerns all along.
Indeed, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam displaced over a million people from the Yangtze Valley. Environmentalists have raised alarms, noting that the resulting reservoir has turned into a dumping ground for industrial waste. Additionally, other issues have arisen since the dam’s completion, such as the inability of downstream ports to handle ships following a 2011 drought.
However, the sheer magnitude of the dam’s power generation and scale is truly astounding. Stretching 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) in length and reaching 180 meters (600 feet) in height, the Three Gorges Dam allows ocean-going vessels to sail directly into mainland China for several months each year. With a capacity of 22,500 megawatts, it generates as much electricity as 18 nuclear power plants, far surpassing its closest competitor, the Itaipu Dam in South America, which generates 14,000 megawatts.
