The largest statue that was ever successfully erected on Easter Island is Paro at the Te Pito Kura location. It is almost 10 meters /33 ft tall and probably weights more than 70 metric tons. What a huge work was required to carve and transport this colossal sculpture. Based on oral stories, Paro was one of last statues erected around 1620 and also the last that was toppled in roughly 1840. Today, Paro still lies face down. His head is broken and separated at the torso. The last moai destroyed by islanders awaits its resurrection by archeologists.
An oval shaped stone next to Ahu Te Pito Kura carried high importance for islanders, in their opinion it possessed magical powers. Its name Te Pito O Te Henua literally means "the navel of the world". This is how residents saw their small island. They believed it was the center point on the surface of the Earth. Some historians suggest that term Te Pito O Te Henua was also used as the name of the island before the arrival of the first Europeans.
