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 theatre 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