 In our quest to understand just how ancient civilizations moved the heaviest stones on earth thousands of years ago, we fall short when it comes to answers. But only a few hundred years ago, the Russians seemed to have achieved the movement of a stone that was 300 pounds heavier than the unfinished Avalos. Wait to hear this. The Russian Thunderstone was a bold statement by Russia in 1770 as they asserted their dominance over the region, apparently only using sheer brute strength and gigantic wooden rollers to transport a stone weighing 1,500 tons before it was carved. Discovered four miles inland from the Gulf of Finland, the enormous stone is said to have been sliced from the mountain by a thunder strike and it is the largest and heaviest stone ever moved by man. Incredibly, during the stone's epic nine-month transportation to St. Petersburg and Russia, master stone cutters constantly shaped the stone as it was being moved, so from the start of the journey, till it arrived at the destination, the weight of the stone was shortened considerably. Catherine the Great, a German princess who married into the Romanov line, wished to connect herself to Peter the Great to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. She ordered therefore the construction of the bronze horsemen. It was her way of showing her admiration for her predecessor and her view of her own place in the line of great Russian rulers. The workers made very short progress on a daily basis because of the sheer size of the stone. Upon arrival at the sea, an enormous barge was constructed exclusively for the thunder stone. The vessel had to be supported on either side by two full-size warships. After a short voyage, the stone reached its destination in 1770 after nearly two years of work. A metal was issued to commemorate its arrival, with the legend close to daring. The stone's dimensions before being cut were 7 by 14 by 9 meters. Based on the density of granite, its weight was determined to be around 1500 tons. This is the most massive stone documented to have been moved by man. It took 12 years, 1770 to 1782, to create the bronze horsemen. The Tsar's face is the work of the young Mary Ann Cullet, then just 18 years old. She used his death mask as a model along with numerous portraits she found in St. Petersburg. On 18 August 1782, the finished statue was unveiled in a ceremony attended by thousands of onlookers. The statue itself is about 20 feet tall, while the pedestal it stands on is another 25 feet tall, giving a total of approximately 45 feet. According to a 19th century legend, enemy forces will never take St. Petersburg while the bronze horseman stands in the middle of the city. During the Second World War, the statue was not taken down, but was protected with sandbags and a wooden shelter. As a result, the monument survived the 900-day siege of Leningrad virtually untouched. Though the Thunderstone is on a smaller scale than the ancient monuments we see scattered across the globe. The technique used was very impressive across land and sea. We can't help but wonder if the gigantic stone really is the result of the foretold documentation, or is this vastly over-exaggerated in order to raise awareness of the sheer power of the Russian Empire to deter would-be invaders. The stone we see today in St. Petersburg is only 400 tons without the inclusion of the bronze statue. No massive and impressive, but whittled down by 1100 tons. That's a lot of waste rock that would have been carved and discarded. Why not just find a smaller rock? Do you know what we are getting at here guys? What do you guys think of this anyway? Comments below and as always, thank you for watching.