German city claims Guinness World Record for world's tallest sand castle

55 feet tall.
 By 
Emma Hinchliffe
 on 
German city claims Guinness World Record for world's tallest sand castle
55 feet tall. Credit: FRIEDEMANN VOGEL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Who says beach towns have the monopoly on sand castles?

The landlocked German city of Duisburg just claimed the world record for the world's tallest sandcastle. The city's sand castle, which stands at 55 feet or 16.68 meters, won the prize after a Guinness World Record jury judged the behemoth on Friday.

The sand castle used 3,860 tons of sand and took more than three weeks to build. The structure was sculpted by a team of designers from 10 countries, incorporating imagery from around the world.

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The Duisburg sandcastle. Credit: FRIEDEMANN VOGEL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

This was the city's second attempt to claim the prize. Last year, its sand castle suffered a major collapse and was disqualified for using material besides sand and water. This year, the sand castle faced a minor collapse midway through, but the team reworked its design to finish strong.

The Duisburg sandcastle dethrones a 50-foot structure in Puri, India that won the title in February. So the team doesn't expect their masterpiece to hold on to the title for long.

The city plans to keep it standing until Sept. 29. Plan your trips to Duisburg accordingly.

Topics Innovations

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Emma Hinchliffe

Emma Hinchliffe is a business reporter at Mashable. Before joining Mashable, she covered business and metro news at the Houston Chronicle.

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