You forgot to tell them about the statue of Lenin on a street corner a few blocks away. On American Soil!!! Not to mention that for years I thought it was a statue of Stalin!!
There’s this huge statue of Sam Houston, outside not Houston, but Hunstville, Texas.
The Illuminated Crowd on McGill College Ave. in Montreal is kind of creepy. Every time I pass it I have the urge to look where the guy’s pointing, which is just another office building.
And then on the McGill Campus, we have the Three Bares. And the statue of James McGill, striding boldly towards the arts building, rain or shine.
Then there’s the semi-stylized nun (mother Emilie Gamelin) in the Ste-Catherine exit of Berri-UQAM metro. And finally, the statue of Jacques Cartier, on a cantilever in a light shaft in Place St-Henri metro; from below, you can see the distorted shadow looming on the wall. Très creepy.
In the town square in Prague is a memorial to Jan Hus. It is freaking huge, and dark and brooding, and really impressive. Huge dark bronze figures rearing up out of a granite monolith that seem like it is as big as the infield at Yankee Stadium.
I forgot to mention King Edward VII presiding greyly over Philips Square.
Go to Romania and see Brancusi’s “Endless Column.”
http://www.worldmonuments.org/html/100_list/brancus.html
It’s scary because it’s been neglected so badly, the foundation is so rusty it could fall on your head at any moment.
Okay, so maybe it doesn’t meet the exact definition of “statue,” but there’s a Big Duck sitting on the side of Route 24 in Flanders on eastern Long Island. I grew up near there, so I am well aware of the role that this ridiculous statue plays in history.
Here is a link to the Big Duck’s Home Page.
Why does this Big Duck exist? A farmer built it in the 30s after deciding that he needed a duck-shaped shop in which to sell ducks to passing motorists. Years later, the Big Duck became responsible for the architectural term “duck,” which refers to a building shaped to represent the products sold within.
If you ever go out to the Hamptons from points west, take Route 24 and you’ll see the Big Duck on your right-hand side as you head east. Pull over and take a picture of your friends standing under it. Trust me.
http://gallery.adnet.ie/sh179z715w36.html
Daniel O’Connell.
The picture dosent do the Statue justice, and its used to Scare tourists by telling them that it comes down off the pedestal at night and attacks foreigners.
http://www.halcyon.com/amcan/photos/dscn1023.html
Big Jim Larkin. Originally from Liverpool, he helped organise trade unions in dublin and founded the largest Irish trade union, the ITGWU leader of the strikers in the Lockout of 1913. the quote on the page is one of my favourites.
http://www.geocities.com/liam13272/page9.html
James Connolly. Scottish Socialist, Irish Rebellion leader.
Allegedly, Irish councellors tried to sneak Lenin’s face onto the plans for this statue when it was being designed, only to be discovered at the last minute.
Elmira, you sure your staue of two guys doesn’t maybe represent wrestlers?
At the Cowboy Hall of Fame (and western heritage museaum) there is a statue called The End of the Trail.
http://www.cowboyhalloffame.org/fs1_g.html
This is really big and as a child I was afraid to walk in front of it as I thought the Indian would let go of the spear and kill me.
Ukelele Ike: Budapest is the place for you. The city is presided over by a statue of Freedom erected during the Soviet Occupation.
Yes, you read that right.
In Pest, there is a graveyard of Old Soviet Big Scary Statues. No one makes Big Scary Statues quite like the Soviets, I daresay. I’ll try to find you some pics.
Here is a link for “Statue Park”, you can click for the English version:
There is also a very cool park in Pest with Big Scary Statues of all the kings of Hungary arranged in a big circle and a replica of the castle that one of the kings lived in when he was a boy. And if you are on a tour of Big and Scary, the public baths will make you realize how kind the gene pool has been to you.
But why stop at Budapest? Vienna is teeming with overdone Baroque statues. Prague’s Charles Bridge is lined with statues of saints. The gates of the castle are guarded by my candidate for one of the scariest statues ever - “Battling Titans.” You can see one of the Titans on the second photo down on this page
If this doesn’t make the case for Hungarian Big Scary Statues, I don’t know what does.
You want scary? Come on down to Washington, DC and visit Haines Point, where you can see The Awakening, which is a big giant guy emerging from underground!!
Here is a closeup of the face. Now that is scary.
There are some good pictures at the bottom of this page as well.
Of course, we also have Giant Abe Lincoln and Giant Tom Jefferson.