Statues
Knights, guards, kings, queens, goddesses and gods as block statues on a pedestal. Choose the figure, the pose, the size and the material, and build the statue layer by layer. Click blocks you have placed to keep track of where you are.
From the feet to the top of the head. A raised arm, crown or spear sticks out above it.
Rich adds a belt, gold hems, eyes, a nose and a longer beard.
About one head tall looks good; a giant statue can have a much taller one.
Make this as wide as your gate or path.
Elevation
Top view with north at the top. The dashed lines run through the middle column of the statue.
Build breakdown
Body parts
| Part | Kind | Size | Layers | Blocks |
|---|
Per layer, from bottom to top
| Layer | Width | What is in it | Blocks |
|---|
Layer 1, row by row
| Row | Start | Pattern | Blocks |
|---|
Build tips
- Build the pedestal first. Then put a scaffold pole in the middle up to above the head: that way you find the middle column again on every layer.
- Build from the feet up, layer by layer. Support arms and weapons that stick out forwards or sideways for a while with sand or scaffolding.
- Build a robe or dress like a cone: start at the bottom with the widest ring and make each layer a little narrower.
- Use stairs and slabs to soften folds, a nose, a chin or the edge of a cape. An upside-down stair under the chin makes the face look much more real.
- Look at your statue from a distance often, from the front and from the side. With statues you only see mistakes when you step back.
- Green copper does not change any more: oxidized copper is the end point. If you want to watch a new statue slowly turn green, build it with plain copper.
- A light block in a torch or on a staff stops monsters spawning on your statue at night.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the statue as a schematic file and paste it into your world with WorldEdit, or build it with a hologram in Litematica. Without the block palette every part gets the block of the chosen material set.
Shopping list
Put the counts of this statue on your list. There you see everything together, converted to stacks and shulker boxes.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
What were statues for?
People have made statues of gods, rulers and heroes for thousands of years. A statue showed who was in charge, helped people worship a god or kept the memory of someone alive. On squares, by gates and on tombs everyone had to be able to see it. That is why statues often stand on a tall pedestal: you look up to them.
Knights
In the Middle Ages, especially from the 13th to the 15th century, knights and nobles often got a stone figure on their tomb: a figure lying in armour, with folded hands and a sword or shield. You find these tomb effigies in churches all over Europe, for example in the Temple Church in London. Standing knights can be seen in northern Germany: the Roland of Bremen from 1404 is a knight more than five metres tall with sword and shield, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the town hall.
Guards
Guards at a gate had to show visitors that the place was protected. The most famous army of statues is the Terracotta Army near Xi'an in China: thousands of life-size soldiers of baked clay, made around 210 BC for the tomb of the first emperor of China, and found by chance by farmers in 1974. Palaces often have two matching guards or lions on either side of the entrance, just like the pair in this tool.
Kings and queens
A royal statue shows the signs of power: crown, sceptre, orb, sword and a long mantle. On the front of Notre-Dame in Paris there is a row of 28 kings from the Bible. During the French Revolution they were beheaded, because people thought they were kings of France; in 1977 many of the old heads were found again during digging work in Paris. In front of Buckingham Palace in London stands the Victoria Memorial, unveiled in 1911, with Queen Victoria in marble and a gilded figure of Victory on top.
The goddess with the torch
The Statue of Liberty in New York is officially called "Liberty Enlightening the World". It was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and opened in 1886. The statue is made of thin copper sheets, about 2.4 millimetres thick, over an iron framework designed by Gustave Eiffel. In her right hand she holds a torch, in her left a tablet with the date 4 July 1776, and her crown has seven rays. The copper was shiny brown at first and turned green within a few decades through patina, a layer that protects the metal.
Athena and Zeus
Around 438 BC the Greek sculptor Phidias made the Athena Parthenos for the Parthenon in Athens: a statue about 12 metres tall with helmet, spear and a large round shield, covered in gold and ivory. Soon after, he made a seated Zeus of gold and ivory at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Both statues have been lost. In the Parthenon in Nashville in the United States there is a modern full-size copy of the Athena.
Poseidon with the trident
Poseidon, called Neptune by the Romans, is the god of the sea. His trident is really a fishing spear. Italy has famous Neptune fountains from the 16th century, such as the one by Bartolomeo Ammannati in Florence and the one by Giambologna in Bologna. The museum in Athens has a bronze god from around 460 BC that was pulled out of the sea near Cape Artemision in pieces in 1926 and 1928. He stands with his legs wide and one arm back, ready to throw; nobody knows for sure whether it is Zeus with a bolt or Poseidon with a trident, because the weapon is gone.
How were statues made?
- Marble was carved out of one large block with chisels and rasps. A sculptor often made a model in clay or plaster first and then measured the points over onto the block of stone.
- Bronze was cast with the lost-wax method: you make the statue in wax, put clay around it, melt the wax out and pour the hot bronze into the hollow mould. Large bronze statues are hollow and are cast in pieces.
- Artists use fixed proportions. The Greek Polykleitos already wrote a rule book, the Canon, in the 5th century BC. Artists often reckon with 8 heads for a heroic figure and about 7 for an ordinary person; exactly what this tool does.
Fun facts
- Greek and Roman marble statues used to be painted in bright colours. Over the centuries the paint has almost completely disappeared.
- Michelangelo's David, made between 1501 and 1504, is more than five metres tall and carved from one block of marble that another sculptor had already started on.
- The head of a large statue is often made a little bigger than the true proportion, because from below it would otherwise look too small. You can see this clearly on the David.
- Green copper protects itself: the patina stops the metal underneath from corroding further.
- In Minecraft a statue 8 blocks tall is already four times as big as a player.
About this tool
With this tool you can build a statue in Minecraft: a knight, a guard, a king, a queen, a goddess or a god, as a block statue on a pedestal. The statue stands in a real pose, with weapons, clothing and headwear, and you build it layer by layer.
Choose a preset, such as the Knight at the gate, the Pair of guards, the Golden queen with sceptre, Athena or Zeus with lightning. Then you choose the figure and the pose, for example sword raised, sword and shield, hands folded or throwing the bolt. You pick the head (helmet, crown, crown of rays or wreath), the weapon, a cloak and a beard. You set the height in blocks, with proportions from 8 heads (heroic) to 4 heads (cute with a big head), and a slim, normal or broad build.
The material goes from stone and white marble to green copper, gold on blackstone and deepslate. You choose a pedestal (square, stepped, round or with a name plate) and its height. With Pair (mirrored) you place two statues on both sides of a gate or path, and you decide which way they face.
You see the statue from the front, the side, the back and in 3D. The layer-by-layer build plan shows every block, and the Body parts table shows what goes where. The materials calculator converts everything to stacks and shulker boxes. With the block palette you give parts their own block. Download the statue as a .schem file for WorldEdit or Litematica.
A statue looks great next to a castle, a temple or in the middle of a square with a fountain.
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a statue in Minecraft?
Build the pedestal first. Then place a scaffolding pole in the middle up to above the head, so you can find the centre column on every layer. Build from the feet upwards, layer by layer. Support arms and weapons that stick out with sand or scaffolding for a while.
How big should a statue be?
The bigger it is, the more detail you can add: a face with a nose and eyes only works at a decent height. A small statue at a gate can be simple. A pedestal about one head high looks good; for a giant statue it can be much taller.
How do I make a green copper statue like the Statue of Liberty?
Choose the material Green copper (patina) and the preset Goddess with torch. Oxidized copper stays green and does not change any more. If you want to watch the statue slowly turn green, build it with normal copper.
How do I make a face or folds look better?
Use stairs and slabs to soften folds, a nose, a chin or the edge of a cloak. An upside-down stair under the chin makes the face look much more real. With Detail set to Rich, the tool adds eyes, a nose, a belt and golden hems.
How many blocks do I need?
The total is shown at the top, in blocks and in stacks. A statue grows quickly with height, because it gets bigger in every direction. Watch out with Pair (mirrored): then you need everything twice.
Can I build this in Bedrock?
Yes, with the layer-by-layer build plan. The .schem file is for Java Edition with WorldEdit or Litematica.