It was recognized by Guinness World Records in 2015 as thelongest outdoor elevator in the world: it’s the Bailong Elevator (literally, “Hundred Dragon Elevator”), who with his 326 meters long it is very popular tourist attractionwhich has also sparked controversy because it is located within a protected forest park.
The panoramic elevator is made of glass and is located in the Chinese province of Hunanin the south-eastern part of the country and more precisely within the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Here the view is breathtaking, dotted with the iconic sandstone pillars up to 500 meters high 900 meters. To allow increasingly numerous visitors to easily access the top of one of these pillars and enjoy the view, the idea came of building an elevator, climbing along the stone.
Built between 1999 and 2002 with a cost of approx 20 million dollarsthe Bailong Elevator is an engineering marvel.
It has atotal height Of 326 metersof which 154 meters dug into the mountain and 172 meters built with external steel and glass pillars. It features three double-deck elevator cabins, each with a capacity of 48-50 passengers and can reach the top in just 1 minute and 32 secondstraveling at a speed of 3 meters per second.
Thanks to these characteristics, the elevator holds the Guinness World Records as the tallest outdoor elevator in the world.
To ensure the safetythe Bailong Elevator is equipped with a system of seismic detection which allows rapid evacuations in case of earthquakes. Despite this, it was closed for a few months in 2002-2003 for seismic risk assessments.
While from an engineering point of view, the Bailong Elevator is undoubtedly impressive, the work is not without its merits controversies: the lift is in fact located inside a UNESCO site, in aprotected area el’visual impact of this work in the midst of nature is remarkable. On the other hand, it is also true that thanks to the lift, visitors are no longer forced to climb narrow mountain paths, thus reducing environmental wear and tear on the area. Thanks to the work, access time to the park is drastically reduced: before the elevator, they were necessary over three hours of driving, versus a few minutes with the elevator.
We conclude with a general reflection: bold works like these can be a driving force to relaunch suggestive places immersed in nature, attracting tourists who are useful for the local economy. Zhangjiajie Park, in fact, also hosts the Southern Pillar of HeavenThe tallest and longest glass pedestrian bridge in the worldand a great site for bungee jumping.
It remains open on debate: must natural places remain uncontaminated or can they be enhanced through interventions like these? Zhangjiajie Park seems to have blazed its own trail.
