India is now home to the tallest statue in the world

India just shattered the record for tallest statue in the world.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday unveiled the newly-completed statue of Vallabhbhai Patel, which is 597 feet tall and cost $400 million to build, The New York Times reports. This makes it the world's tallest statue by far, with the runner-up being the 420-foot tall Spring Temple Buddha in China. For comparison, the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall.

India's new statue honors the country's first deputy prime minister, a key figure in the nation's fight for independence. It was officially dedicated on Patel's birthday, recognized in India as National Unity Day. It took nearly three years, more than 7 million cubic feet of cement, and 25,000 tons of steel to build, NBC News reports.

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In just a few years, though, the statue is set to be dethroned, the Times reports, as the country has plans to complete a memorial to 17th century king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 2021. That one will be nearly 700 feet tall, meaning there's a non-zero chance Tom Cruise will end up jumping off of it in a Mission: Impossible movie. Brendan Morrow