Mysterious stone tablet in China: Weighs more than 31,000 tons, almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty

The interesting story behind this tombstone will help us better understand why this tombstone is located in a quarry instead of in a mausoleum as originally intended.

Stone structures from ancient times always make us amazed and confused, many civilizations have such mysterious stone structures such as the Pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge in England, stone statues on Easter Island (Chile)…

Mystery of giant stone tablet weighing more than 30,000 tons in China

The giant stone stele, whose pedestal alone weighs 16,300 tons, is called the Yangshan Quarry. While the entire structure is said to weigh 31,300 tons in China.

The pedestal of the giant stone stele weighs more than 16,000 tons. Photo: Ancientcode

Located near the present-day city of Nanjing, Yangshan Quarry was a quarry that provided massive amounts of stone for the construction of temples in Nanjing and surrounding areas. But now it is a site of great historical importance.

Giant stone stele becomes attractive tourist destination. Source: Vladimir Menkov

This limestone quarry has been exploited for 6 dynasties to build architectural projects, walls, statues and temples. Among them, the giant tombstones here are a testament to the construction techniques and skills of ancient stonemasons.

The Story Behind the Giant Tombstone

In 1405, the Yongle Emperor, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who reigned from 1402 to 1424, ordered a giant tombstone to be cut in Yangshan Quarry, to be used for the construction of the Ming Xiaoling mausoleum for his deceased father, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

The pedestal of the tombstone. Photo: Ancientcodes

No one can move the tombstone once it is completed. Photo: Ancientcodes

He wanted to build a tombstone worthy of his father’s reputation as the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The huge stone block from the quarry was then cut into three pieces to make this tombstone.

The first rectangular block is the pedestal, the second block is the body of the stele and the last block is the head of the stele (decorated with dragon motifs), no one thought much about the enormous weight of the stone block until the stele was almost completed.

Only then did people start thinking about moving it and the problem began! No one could figure out how to move such a massive stone weighing more than ten thousand tons.

The tombstone block is complete but cannot be moved. Photo: Ancientcodes

Ultimately, the architects of the time concluded that it was impossible to move the giant stele to Ming Xiaoling’s tomb, let alone place it there properly, and the entire project was halted just as it was about to be completed.

That is why this quarry has such a huge tombstone in Yangshan Quarry. This tombstone is 30m long at the base, 16m wide and 13m high, weighing 16,300 tons, while the body is 50m high, 10.7m wide and 4.4m thick, weighing about 9,000 tons.

The head of the tombstone, beautifully carved with dragons, is smaller, about 11m high, 20.3m wide and 8m thick, weighing about 6,000 tons.

The two authors Yang & Lu in the book “Ming and Qing architecture of Nanjing” believe that if the stele is moved and placed in its predetermined position, its standing height can reach 73m (nearly the height of the Statue of Liberty today, 93m).