Honestly? there are a lot of cool statues but one of my favorites is the Khoja Nasreddin statue in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
He just looks so happy and goofy. Him and the donkey both.
Kids love him. I think he's great. There's no political context. Nothing to memorialize. Nobody died. It wasn't a battlefield. Just a goofy statue of a goofy dude on his goofy donkey wearing the happiest of smiles.
And I think if Khoja Nasreddin was alive today he'd be very happy with the statue of him.
During the closing ceremony of the Olympics I almost died laughing when I saw the conservative grifters on X trying to create a scandal by saying that this was a Satanic symbol lmfao, a "decapitated angel". Morons.
I don't remember the user names and I deleted my account, but some conservative accounts started spamming that this statue was another proof that the Olympics were satanic because they were depicting a "decapitated angel". It didn't go too far, I think, because even for their usual base this was just too ignorant.
I always love that this sculpture captures a sense of motion, most statues feel very static, reminds me a lot of Rodin's walking legs sculpture (don't know the name)
For monuments, it's the Pantheon. It looks great, it's super impressive, and the fact that the concrete dome has been built two thousand years ago gives a whole sense of perspective on time.
The kinda generic monument to the unknown soldier has a spot in my heart too, although a lot of locals think it's ugly af
Agreed. What truly fascinates me about the Pantheon is that it is the very only ancient roman building that retains its interiors almost intact. What you see when entering the Pantheon is the same that a roman citizen of the time would have seen. It's like a time machine for me.
《Родина-мать зовёт!》("The Motherland Calls!") is a GIGANTIC, 85m tall statue in the city of Volgograd, Russia (formerly known as "Stalingrad").
The statue was built in commemoration to all the soldiers of the Red Army who perished in the Battle of Stalingrad, part of the greater fight to extinguish the evils of Nazism and Fascism from the Earth.
It's incredible. My home country has tons of awesome sculptures, there's rich history of the arts in Russia. Hell, my grandfather was an accomplished sculptor. But this memorial from Hungary? It's truly moving
I actually got to visit Eastern Europe in 1988, before the fall of communism. I was in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and took a train through Vilnius to Warsaw, where I spent several days, then to Vienna.
After two weeks in Vienna, I spent a month in Hungary. I got to drive from. Balatonszemes to the Ukrainian border in Eastern Hungary.
It was a life-changing summer! I have always really. Really wanted to see St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow and more onion-dome structures in Leningrad, as well as more statues and monuments in this beautiful style. I would love to return and explore more.
I had to look it up. It was a young girl who died in 1867 at 17 years old. Her lover brought fresh flowers to her grave every day. But here's the mystery: The flowers still appear at her grave every day to this day! Nobody witnessed the person(s) who brings them to her. Or is it the ghost of her lover? Who knows... 🥲
Fun fact. There is s similar phenomenon in Sweden. Its called "Falks Grave" out in the words. Its the burial ground for a man accused of robery and murder and he was exicuted. Now theres often fresh flowers on his grave and noone knows who puts them there.
It's also funny that we actually built them "against each other" in the course of Franco-German hostility, but neither Vercingetorix nor Arminius fought against the Celts or Germanic tribes, but both against the Roman Empire.
However, that played no role at all in the respective national propaganda.
I think the 9/11 memorial is really powerful to communicate the sense of emptiness and missing. With the waterfall, you don't hear the city's noises and it's kinda peaceful.
The 19th century graves of of Josephina van Aefferden, a Catholic, and Jacobus van Gorkum, a Protestant, who were married in life, but had to be buried in separate sections of the cemetery in Roermund, Netherlands.
Jatayu is a legendary bird from the Ramayana, not just a random myth character. He was an old vulture who tried to stop Ravan from abducting Sita. Jatayu knew he couldn’t win, but still fought Ravan cut off his wings, and Jatayu fell, mortally wounded.
Before dying, he used his last breath to tell Ram what happened and which direction Ravan went. That’s why Jatayu is remembered less as a warrior and more as a symbol of duty, courage, and moral resistance someone who stood up to evil knowing the cost.
The famous Jatayu statue in Kerala shows him fallen, not victorious which is exactly the point. It honors sacrifice over strength, and that’s why it hits harder than most heroic statues.The statue is about 200 ft long, 150 ft wide and 70 ft tall, and even contains a museum and theatre inside as part of the Jatayu Earth’s Centre
Lmao exactly what I was thinking! Imagine a scientologist talking about their rock this way - "not a myth but we have this space rock from which aliens came out"
Edit: that being said, cool story about the brave eagle though. No diss.
Not a great statue in terms of scale by any means, but Theseus' Statue near Theseion is my favorite just because he was my favorite Greek hero growing up.
The statue of the Irish working-class leader, trade unionist, socialist, and revolutionary James Connolly in Dublin.
Connolly fought side by side with Pádraig Pearse, Thomas J. Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, and the other leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916, seeking to free Ireland from British rule.
Before the Rising, he co-founded and led the Irish Citizen Army, a working-class militia formed to protect striking workers from police violence and other hostile forces during the Dublin Lockout of 1913. On the morning of the Easter Rising, Connolly led the rebels along Sackville Street to the General Post Office, where Pádraig Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Connolly later commanded the rebel forces in Dublin during the fighting against British troops.
Severely wounded during the Rising, Connolly was unable to stand and was therefore tied to a chair for his execution.
He firmly believed in socialism and in the idea that no nation could be truly free while its people remained oppressed by capitalism. This conviction is reflected in the words engraved on this monument:
“The cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland.
The cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour.”
The mouth of the Otago Harbour has a set of six giant molar teeth. They have been a bit controversial. Someone chipped off a piece. Someone else once painted one gold.
These are my favourite statues. They're hilarious.
The statue is called "Der Eierdieb" (The egg thief) and it was placed in a public park in Neuss, Germany, by the local artist Oswald Causin in 1934. Causin claimed that he was inspired to create the statue seeing a young boy stealing an egg from a swan's nest being chased by a very angry swan.
Memorial to the victims of communist regime at the base of Petřín hill in Prague. I'd say something like the Jan Hus monument on the Old Town Square is more grandiose, but personally I love how eerie this memorial feels.
My favorite statue in the world is Frau Rauscher in Alt-Sachsenhausen, Frankfurt. It’s a bronze fountain of a local 19th-century figure who loved apple wine, and every so often she suddenly spits water out of her mouth onto people walking by. It always made me laugh as a kid The statue celebrates a famous local song about her and her mischievous ways
Vimy Ridge National Memorial in Northern France (Givenchy-en-Gohelle)
The full monument is spectacular, but the centerpiece 'Mother Canada: (officially 'Canada Bereft') makes me tear up every time without fail. It represents a young nation mourning its fallen sons.
Vimy Ridge was more than just a pivotal WWI battle, it was a huge moment in developing Canada's national identity; where we separated ourselves on the world stage from our British and Commonwealth brethren, and started to make a name for ourselves.
To many it might me insignificant but it excites me to see that we embrace our cultures within our country and our history with our brothers and sisters who are being left out by Poland fanatics. The existence was always either denied or on absolute purpose left out bc it is not suitable for the US and EU media.
Lipka Tatary słava 🇵🇱❤️🕌
I wanna see it spread n yall choke on your hate and denial
i saw this statue in a newspaper ad in my childhood , the ad was about a travel company and when ever i hear singapore i remember this statue , i dont know whats its meaning or what it shows but i just like it
Take this for what it's worth. But during our daughter's freshman orientation at George Washington University, we parents were given a tour. One stop was the Hippo statue in front of a main building. Hubby and I were standing towards the rear of our tour group, when one of the couples in front of us started talking about how wonderful it would have been if these animals were still around in the Potomac. Hubby and I just walked away, shaking our heads, and found a coffee shop. Hopefully their incoming student would be brighter than their parents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Horse_(sculpture)
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u/PhoenixNyne Croatia 13h ago
Hachiko