Sri lanka unveiled a towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record for an artificial Christmas
tree despite constructions delays and a shorter-than-planned finished product.
The 73-metre (238-foot) tree, built in Capital Colombo, is 18 meters taller than the current record holder, organizers said. The tree’s steel-and-wire frame is covered with a plastic net decorated with more than 1 million natural pine cones painted red, gold, green and silver, 600,000 lED bulbs and topped by a 6-meter-tall (20-foot) shining star.
The tree has cost $80,000. The Catholic Church criticized the tree as a “waste of money” and suggested that the funds better be spent on helping the poor. His claim is subject to confirmation from Guinness World Records, which said it has received an application from the organisers and that “it is currently pending evidence submission.”
Mangala Gunasekara, chief organizer of the tree-building project, said that evidence is being gathered and will be sent to Guinness shortly.
Currently, the record is held by a Chinese firm that put up a 55-meter (180-foot) tree-like tower of lights and synthetic foliage, ornaments and lamps in the city of Guangzhou last year.
Organizers said they wanted the tree to help promote ethnic and religious harmony in the Buddhist-majority South Asian island nation.
“This is just to show the world that we can live as one country, one nation,” said Arjuna Ranatunga, the former cricket player and now government minister of ports and shipping in an interview.