Artist hammers out world's largest nail mosaic

Albanian artist Saimir Strati has hammered tens of thousands of nails into a wooden board over the past 24 days to create a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci and the world's biggest nail mosaic.



"I can officially confirm that we have a new record for the largest nail mosaic of eight square metres," said Guinness World Records adjudicator Scott Christie.

The mosaic stood in the main hall of Tirana's pyramid-shaped culture center, exactly where a larger-than-life sculpture of the late Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha used to stand.

Large-headed nails shone in the light falling on the sides of Da Vinci's flowing grey beard. Smaller black tapestry nails created shadow below his eyes and chin. Three rows of yellow nails framed the portrait.

"I have lost count of the nails, but I think it was around 400 kilos (880 pounds) of nails. I have used different nails. The condition was they should be industrial nails and they are," Strati said.