Leshan Giant Buddha, Sichuan province, China

Description - included in a Unesco World Heritage SIte, this is the tallest stone Buddha statue in the world, carved out of a cliff at the confluence of three rivers, the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers, in southern Sichuan. The carving was started in 713 AD and took over 90 years, during which the removed stone was deposited into the rivers below making the perilous currents safer for navigation.