Master chocolatier Andrew Farrugia’s creation – more than 44 feet tall and almost five tonnes in weight – is a feat of gastro-engineering beyond compare. He used small cranes to winch delicate chunks of chocolate into place, building outward from a strong central core in order to distribute the weight.
The sculpture stands at Terminal 3 in Dubai International Airport. As we have reported, it will eventually be hauled away without anyone ever having tasted it. So what, you might ask, is the point of that? Or the record it set? Or indeed any record – the world’s tallest building, largest book, biggest cereal box, most hanging baskets? These are all records set in the UAE, a small country with a disproportionately high number of Guinness World Records every year. And the point of that? Because it’s there, as George Mallory, the English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest, famously said.
A record is meant to be broken. Or set.