With its fifteen mighty moai statues, Ahu Tongariki surpasses all other Easter Island ahu platforms and monuments in size. Thanks to Japanese donations, the ahu was in the 1990's. Its tallest moai, measuring 9 m, is the heaviest statue to ever have been successfully transported and placed on an ahu, with a weight of 86 tons, measured with the actual crane that performed the restorations.
The ancient tribe members of this area had the great practical advantage of being located close to the volcano Rano Raraku where the statues were made, with a distance of only 1 km from the quarry to the ahu.
