Bringing home the bacon: giant piggy bank in Colombia accepts change for animal shelters

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a… piggy bank?

That’s right – perched atop a giant hill in Colombia, smiling down at visitors, is a massive, pink, pork-shaped monument that’s large enough to actually climb inside. 

Created by the theme park Mano del Artesano - Pueblito de Barro in Ráquira, this colossal piggy bank was unveiled on 13 June as the newest addition to the municipality’s storied pottery history. 

For centuries, the local population has created incredible ceramic pieces out of clay, and this year the park used their generational skills to create a work of art that directly generates support for the community. 

The result was the largest piggy bank in the world, weighing roughly 30 tons and standing at a record-breaking 9 m (29 ft 6.3 in) tall and 10.36 m (33 ft 11.8 in) long.

Built with a working slot, visitors can drop their change into the sculpture, all of which will then be donated to local animal shelters within the city. 

And since the piggy can hold up to 127,000 Colombian 1,000-peso coins – equivalent to 127 million Colombian pesos (or $37,000; £27,637 in change) – their achievement also promises to bring significant cultural, social, and economic impact to the region.

“Belonging to the Guinness World Records family is a dream come true, one that initially felt completely out of reach, but step-by-step we realized it was possible,” said the event organizers, after taking the title. 

“It was not an easy task, but our determination and passion pushed us forward!”

Read more stories about record-breaking sculptures in our dedicated Arts and Entertainment section!

Ráquira is universally known as the artisan capital of Colombia, due to its deep-rooted pre-Columbian pottery traditions. And of all the beautiful work they produce, perhaps the most iconic piece in recent times is their handcrafted piggy banks – whose smiling faces adorn the plump bodies of ceramic figurines across the city. 

So to pay homage to this popular piece of local culture, the craftspeople at Pueblito de Barro spent weeks planning and assembling a giant version to serve as a tourist attraction, carefully sculpting its features out of clay, concrete, and steel beams. 

Inside the pig, they added a gallery dedicated to the history of clay piggy banks in Ráquira, as well as access to a lookout point on its nose where visitors can enjoy the peaceful views of the countryside.

Finally, they were ready to present their work – and on a sunny Saturday in June, they invited Guinness World Records Adjudicator Natalia Ramirez to climb inside the snout of a giant pig!

“Reviewing a structure of this scale was an absolute privilege,” she said. “The sheer precision of the clay modelling is stunning. 

“I actually climbed all the way to the very top of the massive piggy bank structure to conduct the official coin-drop test, and the panoramic view of the Boyacá mountains from up there was absolutely beautiful.” 

Natalia and the Pueblito de Barro team exploring additional sculptures at the park

And after confirming the precise dimensions of the monument with satellite technology, Natalia was thrilled to present the park’s organizers with the Guinness World Records title for the largest piggy bank on Earth. They officially took the title from Kreissparkasse Ludwigsburg (Germany), which stood for an incredible 11 years. 

“This recognition puts a small region like Ráquira on the global map, and we are filled with pride to share our culture through this monumental work,” they said. “It also commits us to preserving our legacy, and showing the beauty of our Colombian culture to the rest of the world.”

So congratulations to the piggy bank potters and people of Ráquira for taking this impressive title – you are now Officially Amazing!