TIRANA, Sep. 4 – A Reinless Horse by Saimir Strati, a mosaic constructed completely with toothpicks, gave him a place in the Guinness Book of Records, the second time for this Albanian artist.
Strati, 41, created the 2 x 4 meter mosaic in 40 days using a million and a half toothpicks with either sharpened or blunt ends to show a running horse with its waving mane and tail, and a saddle.
Based on the dimensions, it is the largest mosaic created with toothpicks, said Guinness adjudicator Andrea Banfi after measuring it and declaring it “a new Guinness World Record.”
The mosaic, shown to the public in the round hall of Tirana’s pyramid-shaped Arbnori International Cultural Centre, once built as a museum for the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha, is the second entry for Strati in the Guinness Book of Records after the portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, the world’s largest mosaic of nails which remains uncontested till this day.
Strati is the only Albanian in the Guinness Book of Records, according to Banfi.
