Ranked as the third most populous metropolis in India with over 15 million people, Kolkata is notoriously famous for its hectic street scenery and traffic congestion. In 2015, one local chief minister, with the help of his party members, decided to fight Kolkata’s infamously chaotic image by erecting a scaled-down facsimile of Big Ben in one of the city’s busiest junctions.

Nestled at the intersection of VIP and Lake Town roads, the 30-meter-tall replica is the centerpiece of a citywide beautification project. Like the London-based monument, it has four sides facing each of the cardinal directions; however, the clock dial’s diameter is merely half the size of the original tower. More than 155 years separate the two buildings, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the way each was constructed, as the Indian replica’s most intricate details are, in fact, prefabricated cast blocks made of an ultra-strong polymeric material.

The British-style landmark soon became a pilgrimage site for curious Indians, but not without a great deal of controversy, as its many critics insist that the tower lacks any cultural context and that the city should focus on its own unique heritage rather than mimicking foreign architecture.

Deemed the unofficial gas capital of Russia, Surgut lies in the gas-rich Autonomous Okrug of Khanty-Mansi, in the far reaches of western Siberia. The city lives up to its informal moniker, as it hosts the headquarters of some of the country’s largest gas companies as well as the world’s second-largest gas-fired power station.

Its somewhat gritty reputation was mitigated in 2004, when the city’s school of foreign languages inaugurated its brand-new lavish edifice, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the UK Parliament and its famed clock tower. Embellished with lancet arches and angel sculptures, the 7-story Siberian Big Ben features four clocks that are partly covered with real gold, all of which were manufactured in England, yet their diameter is only one-third of London’s tick-tocking devices.

It’s plausible to assume that some of you must be thinking that the building’s marvelous Neo-Gothic façade is merely a veneer, but as it turns out, that is far from true. Corridors with stained-glass windows, twenty classrooms, a splashy theater, and a fashionable café at the ground level make this replica a citywide attraction. If you wonder about the unusual design choices, then according to the school’s management, the building’s British chic resonates with its role as an educational center, where locals study German, French, Spanish, and most notably, English.

With its history dating back to 6300 BC, Ningbo is one of China’s oldest continuously inhabited cities and, as of today, a major urban center and industrial powerhouse. While China is famous for its large-scale mimicry of European cities such as Paris and Hallstatt, Ningbo’s Dapeng Mountain replica park takes the art of duplication to another level.

Wedged between Dapeng Mountain and Jiaohu Lake, the “Around the World in Eighty Days” Park, as it is officially branded, is a lakeside theme park that offers dozens of replicas of world-famous landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, Egypt’s Pyramids, the Statue of Liberty, Rome’s Colosseum, the Parthenon of Athens, and, you guessed it, Big Ben.

Despite its many eye-catching neighbors, Ningbo’s Big Ben stands out as it towers above most of the other replicas and is centrally located within the premises, surrounded by its own plaza. Aside from its architectural clones, the 250-acre park also has a luxurious hotel, a carousel, water slides, and a host of other rides. Take note that this recreational complex is situated in the city’s far northern outskirts, and as such, is not well-served by public transportation, making taxis the only viable option for getting there.

Given its many globally renowned theme parks, including the Walt Disney World Resort, it is more than reasonable to determine that Orlando can be considered the American capital of architectural mimicry. Curiously, the city’s duplication epidemic didn’t skip the suburbs, as Kissimmee, one of Orlando’s more affluent satellite towns, is home to its own version of London’s Big Ben.

Nestled in the Sunset Walk entertainment and shopping center, the newly built Yeoman’s Cask & Lion is a UK-themed pub that takes pride in its ultra-British menu, music, and most importantly, its design. Towering over the pub is the centerpiece of this British culinary enclave: a 61-foot-tall replica of Elizabeth Tower, which, despite being five times smaller than the original, is claimed by the pub owner to be Big Ben’s tallest replica in North America.

Possibly the 21^st century’s most significant city, the booming metropolis of Dubai boasts an endless hodgepodge of pioneering mega-projects. Whereas replicas of famous landmarks are often regarded as controversial in well-established cities, Dubai serves as an architectural petri dish, and as such, it is home to some of the world’s wildest and most unrestrained types of buildings, some of which eerily resemble well-known foreign monuments.

Situated along Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road, the 69-story Al Yaqoub Tower might seem at first glance like a mundane piece of lucrative real estate. However, according to its architect, Adnan Saffarini, this slender and super-tall skyscraper was inspired by Big Ben in London. Completed in 2013 after six years of construction, it now hosts a 224-room hotel. Dubai’s Big Ben lacks any clocks or bells, but what it lacks in authenticity, it more than makes up for in being overwhelmingly taller than its source of inspiration, with a whopping 328 meters compared with the original’s measly 91 meters.

Located on the northern tip of Sulawesi Island, Manado is the provincial capital of North Sulawesi as well as the second most populous metropolitan area on the island. In recent years, the city has become a magnet for vacationers who are drawn to its surrounding natural wonders, particularly Bunaken Island and its abundant marine scenery.

In stark contrast to its long list of popular getaways, Manado’s CitraLand neighborhood gets only a fraction of the tourist throngs who swarm the area. Founded in 2003 by a local real estate firm, CitraLand is an ultra-wealthy suburb of Manado, where the city’s elite, expats, and well-off residents are insulated from the gritty reality elsewhere.

As part of their continuous effort to differentiate CitraLand from the rest of Manado and market it to potential buyers, the land developers erected dozens of monuments across the neighborhood. Among the myriad of eye-catching places, buildings, and sculptures are the Jesus Blesses, the world’s fourth-tallest statue of Jesus, a water park, a group of formidable sculpted horses, and, of course, a local replica of the Palace of Westminster’s famous tower.

Roughly 25 meters tall, Manado’s Big Ben, also branded as the Tower of Blessings, is strikingly white, with elongated openings lined along its façade. A spiral staircase provides access to the tower’s observatory deck, but unfortunately, most of the time the door is locked, so contacting the company’s office is probably your only chance of getting inside.

Ravaged by a brutal civil war since 2014, Yemen is one of the world’s least visited countries, but make no mistake, its unflattering status has nothing to do with a lack of things to see. Serving as the country’s de facto capital, the port city of Aden has faced its fair share of war-related hardships over the years, and as ludicrous as it may sound, it has its own spectacular replica of the UK’s iconic clock tower.

Inspired by London’s Elizabeth Tower, Aden’s iconic clock tower was constructed in 1890 by British architects and engineers as well as local workers, when the region was still part of a British crown colony. In fact, according to some unverified claims, Queen Elizabeth spent her honeymoon at the nearby Crescent Hotel, from where she enjoyably heard the tower’s chimes.

Nestled on top of a hilly part of the Al-Tawahi neighborhood, the 22-meter-tall and 1.5-meter-wide Yemeni Big Ben features black stones mixed with cement and is topped by a triangular red roof. A metal staircase inside the building leads to the upper deck, from where one can have a panoramic view of Al-Tawahi’s narrow alleys and the nearby port.

Often dubbed the “Big Ben of the East” or even the “Big Ben of the Arabs,” the tower underwent a tumultuous time, first when it fell into a state of disrepair during the 1960s, and then was thoroughly renovated in 1983, only to be looted and severely damaged three years later in what is known as the Events of 1986. Luckily, it was restored in 2012 and once again revered as one of Aden’s most prominent icons.

In contrast to all the previously mentioned replicas, Nantwich’s Big Ben no longer exists. Fortunately, it wasn’t due to an unforeseen disaster, but because the tower was a temporary exhibit, part of a 20-year-old annual tradition that still takes place to this day.

Most of the time, the Snugburys Ice Cream rural farmhouse in Nantwich, Cheshire offers just a generous assortment of scrumptious ice cream. However, each year (usually in August), the farm’s owners, Chris and Cheryl Sadler, together with a local engineer named Mike Harper, erect a massive monument made entirely of straw and reinforced with a steel skeleton, designed by Mike.

Over the last two decades, the farm has created a series of breathtaking hay sculptures, including versions of the Millennium Wheel, a coneastrawus, a meerkat, the Snugnik Rocket, and in 2009, a straw replica of Big Ben. Marking the 150th anniversary of the country’s most iconic monument, the grassy tower was made of 500 bundles of straw, weighing over 20 tons in total, while its clocks were fully functional at that time. This unusual landmark reached a staggering height of 72 feet, not bad at all for a straw skyscraper.