UAE Tribute Monument Certified as World Record for Largest Architectural Relief Sculpture Made Primarily from Polystyrene
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Created by Dr. Wissam Jawdat Al Akkawi, Fiesta Holding, and Atrium Architecture, the 8-meter-high monument honors three visionary UAE leaders through architecture, sculpture, and national gratitude.
By Atlas Editorial Team
5 July 2026 • SHARJAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
A Mountain Built to Say Thank You
In Sharjah, a monument rises from the face of a residence not as decoration, but as a declaration. It is a mountain of memory, carved from polystyrene, hardened by cement-polymer coating, painted in natural stone colors, and shaped into the likenesses of three leaders whose influence reaches far beyond the walls that support it.
The sculpture was conceived by Dr. Wissam Jawdat Al Akkawi, Founder and CEO of Fiesta Holding and Atrium Architecture, as a permanent expression of gratitude to the United Arab Emirates, a country he describes as his second home for the past eleven years. “Rather than expressing gratitude through words,” he wrote, “I wanted to transform that appreciation into a permanent architectural monument.”
At its heart, the monument honors Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE; His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whose determination helped transform that founding vision into a global success story; and His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, whose leadership reflects a balance between modernization, education, culture, Islamic values, and family traditions. Together, the three figures are presented as a mountain: strong, united, and impossible to shake.
The Falcon and the Mountain
Beside the leaders stands a falcon, chosen deliberately as one of the UAE’s most powerful national symbols. It represents ambition, vision, courage, precision, and the ability to see beyond the near horizon. In this sculpture, the falcon does not merely accompany the monument. It completes it.
The work’s scale is central to its effect. The completed relief reaches approximately eight meters in height, with varying depth from roughly 10 centimeters to 1.5 meters. The structure was made from 24 polystyrene blocks, each measuring 300 x 120 x 60 centimeters, with an estimated polystyrene volume of 36.75 cubic meters and an approximate core weight of 735 kilograms before coating and paint. After carving, the surface was hardened with three layers of cement mixed with polymer material, adding an estimated 110 kilograms, then finished with anti-UV water-based paint and a transparent protective primer for the high-temperature UAE environment.
Technically, the challenge was not only making something large. It was making something large and recognizable. Dr. Al Akkawi described the greatest difficulty as engineering an eight-meter-high relief with limited depth while achieving lifelike facial expressions that could be recognized instantly.
Forty Days of Work, Eleven Years of Gratitude
The project was built through collective effort. Engineers, architects, sculptors, craftsmen, technicians, managers, and members of Dr. Al Akkawi’s own family contributed to the creation, reflecting the diversity and unity that he associates with the UAE itself.
The most intensive fabrication and installation period lasted approximately forty days, while the broader journey from concept, design, engineering, carving, finishing, transportation, and installation took several months. The installation process included steel profile support elements welded and reinforced into the building’s structural frame, with the upper faces mounted on a reinforced platform and attached to the rear structure and base using steel wires and foam spray adhesive before the surrounding mountain relief was shaped around the core assembly.
For Dr. Al Akkawi, the record is not merely a certificate or a marketing claim. It is a way for gratitude to travel farther. As he explained, the purpose of seeking recognition from Atlas World Records was to amplify a message of appreciation to the world.
This is not simply an artwork. It is a thank-you made monumental: to Sheikh Zayed for the vision, to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for transforming that vision into reality, and to Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi for preserving values, culture, and identity while embracing progress.
Certified by Atlas World Records on 5 July 2026