The northeast of Rapa Nui
The Paro moai, at Ahu Te Pito Kura, the largest moai statue transported from the Rano Raraku volcano quarry and erected successfully on an ahu or platform. Its ears measure 2 metres, its height reached 10 metres and it is estimated that its weight exceeds 80 tons. According to tradition, a widow commissioned the construction of this moai in memory of her late husband. It seems that this would have been one of the last statues to be knocked down from its ahu, shortly after 1838, since after this date there are no records of the visitors seeing a standing moai. It lies face down and the body is cut in half as a result of its collapse. In front of its head lies its gigantic pukao headdress, almost 2 metres high and about 10 tons in weight, considered also one of the most voluminous headdresses carved and transferred from the quarry of Puna Pau.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers, Mon Oct 07, 1985