construction

3 frightening flagpoles

by deputydog ⋅ 05 / 12 / 2007 ⋅ post a comment

is it just me or are these immense structures slightly scary?

the 3 largest flagpoles on earth…

gijeong-dong flagpole, north korea

in the 80s, the south koreans built a huge 328ft tall flagpole in daeseong-dong, an area extremely close to the north korean border. the north koreans then proceeded to build their own larger version about a mile away at the entrance of ‘propaganda village’ in the dmz. it’s still recognised as the tallest supported flagpole in the world and measures 525ft. apparently when it rains the flag must be lowered as the structure can’t take the weight of a humungous wet flag. here’s the google maps link.

aqaba flagpole, jordan

at a whopping 430ft, the world’s tallest free-standing flagpole sits on the coast of jordan and can be seen from israel, saudi arabia and egypt. i can’t for the life of me spot the bugger on google maps. have a look at the area here and see if you have more luck.

raghadan flagpole, jordan

jordan can also claim the title of ’second largest free-standing flagpole on earth’. at 416ft the ‘earthquake resistant’ raghadan flagpole can be seen up to 16 miles away and holds a flag measuring 200 x 130ft. the carbon steel pole weighs 190′000lb, design and construction took 2 years and it can withstand winds as strong as 90mph. ogle it on google maps.

(all photos from flickr link to the user’s account)

sources: 1, 2, 3

discussion

10 comments for “3 frightening flagpoles”

  1. The Brazilian national flagpole in the Square of the Three Powers in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, measures 328ft (100 meters).

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=brasilia,+brazil&ie=UTF8&ll=-15.800956,-47.859492&spn=0.002359,0.005021&t=k&z=18&om=1

    posted by a reader from Brazil | 5th of December, 2007, 8:10 pm

  2. The aqaba flagpole seems to be here, close to the water.
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Aqaba,+Ma‘an,+Jordan&sll=17.978733,49.394531&sspn=87.558451,133.59375&ie=UTF8&cd=2&geocode=0,29.497100,34.996800&t=k&om=1&ll=29.513758,34.996508&spn=0.005518,0.007499&z=17

    posted by pascal | 5th of December, 2007, 9:20 pm

  3. Here’s that flagpole, I think:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Aqaba,+Ma‘an,+Jordan&sll=17.978733,49.394531&sspn=87.558451,133.59375&ie=UTF8&cd=2&geocode=0,29.497100,34.996800&t=k&om=1&ll=29.513646,34.996777&spn=0.006778,0.014334&z=17

    posted by Peter | 5th of December, 2007, 9:51 pm

  4. It is not very nice of Jordan to make other countries look at their flag all day.

    posted by Mary | 6th of December, 2007, 12:45 am

  5. I don’t think those links are the flagpole we’re looking for. The photos deputydog posted make it look pretty straight-sided from top to bottom, but the one in those Google Map links seems to be tapered a but, judging from its shadow. It looks like an airport’s control tower or something.

    The only other candidate I could find was this one: http://tinyurl.com/2dr9mc

    It’s considerably slimmer than the other one, and it might be too small, but I’m not sure.

    posted by MadMolecule | 6th of December, 2007, 3:44 am

  6. I agree with MadMolecule. Look at the photos again & see the “control tower” on the left of the flagpole in photo #3. And the angle of the black & red ship in #3 too. The pole is in a plaza & it’s right on the water. Then behind it is city buildings & thumping big valley, with a big hill to the left. So I figure it’s here: 29.52139, 35.00082 & was still under construction when the Sat photo was taken.

    BTW, try http://www.fiddaman.info/maps/sitefull.htm for a full page look. Feel free to check out the other map stuff by going up one level.

    posted by AussieRodney | 6th of December, 2007, 7:47 am

  7. this is the pole in the middle of Dublin: they call it “the spire”, it’s 120 metres (393 ft) high

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spire_of_Dublin
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=dublin+ireland&ie=UTF8&ll=53.349844,-6.260238&spn=0.002427,0.005021&t=k&z=18&om=1

    posted by Alessandro | 6th of December, 2007, 10:21 am

  8. hey mate

    that north korean flag in the dmz is MASSIVE. i’ve seen it first hand, albeit from a safe distance. it’s pretty damn big and quite formidable. that flag weighs 600 pounds (275 kg). it takes quite a strong wind to make it sail too.

    cheers

    david
    http://www.davidsmeaton.com

    posted by david | 9th of December, 2007, 8:06 am


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