Colombo tries to knock Guangzhou off perch for world's tallest artificial Christmas tree

Sri Lanka has unveiled a towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record for an artificial Christmas tree despite constructions delays and a shorter-than-planned finished product.

The 73-metre tree, built in capital Colombo, is 18 metres taller than the current record holder, organizers said. The tree’s steel-and-wire frame is covered with a plastic net decorated with more than 1 million natural pine cones painted red, gold, green and silver, 600,000 LED bulbs and topped by a 6-metre-tall shining star.

The tree has cost US$80,000. The Catholic Church criticised the tree as a “waste of money” and suggested that the funds better be spent on helping the poor.

Mangala Gunasekara, chief organiser of the project claims their tree has beat the existing Guinness record and he hopes it will be declared by the “World’s tallest artificial Christmas Tree”.

His claim is subject to confirmation from Guinness World Records, which said it has received an application from the organisers and that “it is currently pending evidence submission.” Gunasekara said that evidence is being gathered and will be sent to Guinness shortly.