World's Largest Teepee

Originally constructed for the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics, the Saamis Tepee is a tribute to Canada’s native heritage. After being moved to Medicine Hat, assembly of the major structural elements began October 20th, 1991, and was completed in less than one week. The World’s Largest Tepee is built entirely of steel with a concrete foundation and is ringed with 10 large circular story-boards depicting aspects of native culture and history. There are ten story-boards built into the tepee depicting native culture and history. The colours of the structure are symbolic, white for purity, red for the rising and setting sun and blue for the flowing river.  The Saamis Tepee has a foundation weight of 800 metric tons, and the dead load of the structure is 200 metric tons. The main masts of the Tepee measure 215 feet (equivalent to a 20 story building!) and the diameter of the Tepee is 160 feet. There are 960 bolts holding the Tepee together.