The Travelling Moai

A lone statue greets visitors to the famous archaeological site of Ahu Tongariki, on the remote Pacific island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). This moai, officially called the A Vere Moai, has in fact had many adventures. He is known affectionately as the Travelling Moai on account of his trip to Osaka in 1982, where he was part of an exhibition which heralded a great affinity between the Japanese and the Rapa Nui. He was then used in 1986 to demonstrate the ‘walking’ theory promulgated by Czech engineer Pavel Pavel. After a makeover in 2015, he now stands proud – at 4 metres and 9 tons – as the guardian of the fifteen guardians of the Pacific on the shoreline yonder.