Giant ceramic piggy bank brings home a Guinness title in Colombia
A Colombian theme park has unveiled a 30-ton ceramic piggy bank that takes coins for animal shelters and doubles as a walk-in gallery.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
A 30-ton ceramic pig now towers over a theme park in Colombia, and Guinness World Records says it is officially the largest piggy bank on the planet.
UPI reported that the record-setting hog sits at Mano del Artesano, Pueblito de Barro, in Ráquira, a Colombian town known for its pottery tradition. The park built the enormous pig as a tribute to that local craft, turning a familiar savings-bank shape into a full-scale attraction.
According to UPI, the ceramic structure measures 29 feet, 6.3 inches high and 33 feet, 11.8 inches long. It weighs about 30 tons, making it less a desk ornament and more a landmark with a snout.
The pig is hollow and fitted with a working coin slot, UPI reported. Visitors can drop in spare change, with the money set to go to local animal shelters.
Guests can also go inside the giant ceramic animal. UPI reported that the interior includes a gallery focused on the history of ceramic piggy bank making in the region.
The attraction also has a lookout point located on the pig’s nose, giving visitors a view from a spot that most piggy banks, mercifully, do not offer.
Guinness World Records Adjudicator Natalia Ramirez confirmed the measurements for the record, according to UPI. Guinness said Ramirez used satellite technology to determine the pig’s exact dimensions before awarding the title for the world’s largest piggy bank.
Ramirez described the inspection as “an absolute privilege,” according to UPI, and praised the accuracy of the clay work used to shape the structure.
She also said she climbed to the top of the piggy bank to carry out the official coin-drop test, UPI reported. From there, Ramirez said, she had a panoramic view of the Boyacá mountains.
The park shared video of the attraction on Instagram through the account WA’KÜ Eventos y Aventura, according to UPI.
The record lands the Ráquira attraction in familiar Guinness territory: a local object, supersized with engineering and a sense of theater. In this case, the result is part sculpture, part donation box, part museum and part mountain lookout.
For visitors, the pitch is straightforward: see the world’s largest piggy bank, step inside its ceramic belly, learn about the craft behind it and, if they have change to spare, feed the pig for local shelters.
This story draws on original reporting from UPI.