Toothpick World

Where can you see all the tallest buildings in the world in one place? Right here in the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology, in our Toothpick World exhibit!

North Syracuse resident and toothpick engineer Stan Munro built models of the world’s tallest buildings out of toothpicks and glue, and has them on display in a new location: the upper IMAX lobby. A second display features houses of worship from around the world.

Every structure is built to the same scale: 1/164, chosen initially because that’s the size of building that he could fit in his house. According to that scale, a person 6 feet tall would measure .44 inches high.

Toothpick World holds two Guinness World Records: tallest toothpick structure, set in 2013, and largest display of toothpick sculptures, set in 2014.

By the Numbers

5 to 6 million

toothpicks used

13 years

spent creating his toothpick buildings

300

structures built

40

countries represented

15 days

average build time per structure

5 hours

build time for easiest structure, Washington Monument

5 months

build time for hardest structure, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona