Tallest totem pole

The tallest totem pole is 52.7 m (173 ft) tall and stands in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, British Columbia, Canada. It comprises two separate sections, spliced together, which measure 49.6 m (163 ft) and 3 m (10 ft). Although the pole was carved in the late 1960s, by a team of sculptors led by Jimmy Dick, it was not erected until 1973. The structure includes representations of the Sun Man, the Thunderbird, a salmon, a whale and a bear holding a salmon and is unusual in that it is dedicated to a number of factions within the Kwakwaka’wakw people, rather than just one family.

The fact that the structure is built from the trunks of two trees has proved controversial, as some authorities believe that totem poles should be constructed from only a single tree. This was the case with an example located in McKinleyville, California, USA, and carved by Ernest Pierson and John Nelson from a 500-year-old redwood tree. It was originally 43.5 m (142 ft 9 in) tall and weighed in at 25.9 tonnes (28.5 US tons), but after the wood at its summit became rotten, around 8.8 m (29 ft) of the pole had to be removed in 2023.

An even taller totem pole topping out at 54.94 m (180 ft 3 in), known as the Spirit of Lekwammen ("Land of the Winds'), was raised on 4 August 1994 at Victoria, British Columbia, prior to the Commonwealth Games taking place there. On 26 August 1997, the pole was partially dismantled owing to rotting wood, yet the base of approximately 12.1 m (40 ft) remains at the site.

Totem poles are particular to the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest of North America, and serve a number of different functions. Some were situated at the entrance to a dwelling, sometimes included a doorway, and bore information about the inhabitants. The carvings on a pole reflect different aspects of the people’s culture and history, including supernatural creatures that ancestors were believed to have met, and symbols that distinguish one First Nation group from others.