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What is the greatest gift one country ever gave another?

By YPB Team

Some arrived in crates, some walked across France on four legs, and one gets replaced every winter. Friendship, alliance, apology or thanks: judge which gesture between nations landed best.

  1. Washington's Cherry Trees — ranked #11
    Washington's Cherry Trees
    About 3,000 Japanese cherry trees given by the city of Tokyo to Washington, D.C. in 1912 and planted around the Tidal Basin and in East Potomac Park.
    1000pts
  2. Runnymede JFK Memorial Land — ranked #22
    Runnymede JFK Memorial Land
    An acre of ground at Runnymede given by the United Kingdom to the United States in 1965 for the memorial to President John F. Kennedy.
    914pts
  3. Temple of Debod — ranked #33
    Temple of Debod
    Ancient Egyptian temple given by Egypt to Spain in 1968 for its help with the Nubian monuments campaign, rebuilt in a park in Madrid.
    822pts
  4. Temple of Dendur — ranked #44
    Temple of Dendur
    Ancient Egyptian temple given by Egypt to the United States in 1965 for its help saving the Nubian monuments, now rebuilt inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    685pts
  5. Ottawa's Dutch Tulips — ranked #55
    Ottawa's Dutch Tulips
    Tulip bulbs sent to Ottawa by the Dutch royal family from 1945 in thanks for Canada sheltering Princess Juliana and liberating the Netherlands, which led to the Canadian Tulip Festival.
    621pts
  6. Statue of Liberty — ranked #66
    Statue of Liberty
    Copper statue designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, given by the people of France to the United States and dedicated in New York Harbor on 28 October 1886.
    621pts
  7. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing — ranked #77
    Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing
    Giant pandas given by China to the United States in 1972 after President Nixon's visit to Beijing, housed at the National Zoo in Washington.
    548pts
  8. Cleopatra's Needle, London — ranked #88
    Cleopatra's Needle, London
    Ancient Egyptian obelisk offered to Britain by Muhammad Ali in 1819 and finally erected on London's Victoria Embankment in 1878.
    464pts
  9. Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree — ranked #99
    Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree
    A Norwegian spruce sent from Oslo to London every year since 1947 in thanks for Britain's support of Norway during the Second World War.
    464pts
  10. Luxor Obelisk — ranked #1010
    Luxor Obelisk
    Ancient Egyptian obelisk from Luxor Temple given by Egypt's ruler Muhammad Ali to France and erected in the Place de la Concorde in Paris in 1836.
    365pts
  11. Resolute Desk — ranked #1111
    Resolute Desk
    Desk built from the timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute and presented by Queen Victoria to US President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880, used in the Oval Office.
    365pts
  12. Amber Room — ranked #1212
    Amber Room
    Chamber of amber panels given by King Frederick William I of Prussia to Tsar Peter the Great in 1716, looted in 1941 and recreated at the Catherine Palace in 2003.
    365pts
  13. Cleopatra's Needle, New York — ranked #1313
    Cleopatra's Needle, New York
    Ancient Egyptian obelisk given to the United States by the Khedive of Egypt and erected in New York's Central Park in 1881.
    249pts
  14. Netherlands Carillon — ranked #1414
    Netherlands Carillon
    Bell tower in Arlington, Virginia, given by the people of the Netherlands in thanks for American aid during and after the Second World War and dedicated in 1960.
    249pts
  15. Vimy Ridge Land — ranked #1515
    Vimy Ridge Land
    Land at Vimy Ridge granted by France to Canada in perpetuity in 1922 in gratitude for Canada's First World War sacrifices, site of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
    249pts
  16. Zarafa the Giraffe — ranked #1616
    Zarafa the Giraffe
    Giraffe sent by Muhammad Ali of Egypt to King Charles X of France, which walked from Marseille to Paris in 1827 and caused a giraffe craze.
    0pts

Photo credits

Comments 1

France paid for the statue, but roughly 125,000 Americans, most giving a dollar or less, paid for the pedestal: https://youpick.best/articles/statue-of-liberty-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team
11h ago