# Why are bronze statues of celebrities so horrible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416 "2023-08-11T18:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/142 "2025-11-12T20:57:07Z")
NVM, the BFF sculpture was only painted to look like bronze. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/143 "2025-11-12T22:39:13Z")
I thought it looked like Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/144 "2025-11-13T13:25:07Z")
The statue of Dante Alighieri outside the Dante Alighieri Center in Cambridge Massachusetts is truly frightening. It looks like my old Mother Superior from Catholic School. The photograph doesn’t adequately convey how soulless the statue looks > **[File:Dante Alighieri statue, Cambridge, Massachusetts - DSC00143.JPG](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dante_Alighieri_statue,_Cambridge,_Massachusetts_-_DSC00143.JPG)** [https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-SMA000364\_b](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=SAAM-SMA000364_b) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/145 "2025-11-13T13:40:17Z")
But did you make that remark within earshot? [![](https://aurorasginjoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thalos.gif) ](https://aurorasginjoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/thalos.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/146 "2025-11-13T13:41:59Z")
That is the statue of a man who’s been through hell. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/147 "2025-12-02T08:56:44Z")
> **[Frozen-in tenor: Italian mayor apologises over Pavarotti statue stuck in ice...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/01/italian-mayor-apologises-pavarotti-statue-stuck-ice-rink?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)** > > Late singer’s widow says building ‘ugly’ ice rink around statue in Pesaro is disrespectful and ridicules his memory ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/148 "2025-12-02T15:23:12Z")
It seems really stupid and dangerous to have a bronze statue sticking out of an ice rink. It looks like it’s in the corner, but still-- if an inexperienced skater loses control and is barreling for the corner, unable to stop, better they run into a plexiglass wall than be clotheslined by a bronze arm 🥴 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/149 "2025-12-02T15:42:19Z")
From the article: > “It was like a bolt out of the blue,” she said after the newspaper sent her the images. “I’m sorry the city allowed something like this, because it affects Luciano’s image and the respect he deserves. It’s just not right.” > Andrea Biancini, the mayor of Pesaro, appeared to aggravate the issue by sharing an image of the statue in the ice rink alongside a hashtag encouraging skaters to “give Pavarotti a high five”. > > He later apologised, admitting that the local council had “made a mistake”. Building the ice rink around it is incredibly stupid, but if anyone thinks people weren’t already high fiving that statue they’re dreaming. If a statue is accessible to the public, like in the middle of a plaza, people are going to shake it’s hand, high five it, take obscene pictures, etc. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/150 "2025-12-02T16:59:45Z")
You should see which bit of the [statue of Cristiano Ronaldo in Funchal harbour](https://dynamic-media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/2e/a4/fc/0c/caption.jpg) is shiniest from people rubbing it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/151 "2025-12-02T17:12:55Z")
I think the George H.W. Bush statue in Houston is pretty good work. > **[George Bush Presidential Monument | Houston Arts Foundation](https://houstonartsfoundation.org/installation/george-bush-presidential-monument/)** ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/152 "2025-12-02T20:04:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I think the George H.W. Bush statue in Houston is pretty good work. I wonder what will be his shiniest bit. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/153 "2025-12-02T20:12:44Z")
Eh, nobody’s going to shine him. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/154 "2025-12-03T07:40:18Z")
He’s never looked so lifelike. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/155 "2025-12-03T11:56:14Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > You should see which bit of the [statue of Cristiano Ronaldo in Funchal harbour](https://dynamic-media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/2e/a4/fc/0c/caption.jpg) is shiniest from people rubbing it. _Statue Burnishing_ is definitely a thing. Victor Noir’s memorial in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris similarly has a burnished erection. > **[Victor Noir’s Mysterious Erection](https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/07/victor-noirs-mysterious-erection.html)** Long before I read about this phenomena, I had been observing it, and was always interested in what parts of the statue were most burnished, indicating that most people had handled it. Often it’s hands. On the “This is the Place” monument in Emigration Canyon outside Salt Lake City, it’s the horns on the oxen. On the “Make Way for Ducklings” statues in Boston’s Public Garden, it’s the backs of the mama duck and the ducklings for all the little kids sitting on the statues). Or Red Auerbach’s Cigar in Quincy Marketplace in Boston. Or a lot of statue’s hands in various other places. Noses are another target. Or toes, if that’s the only part easily reachable (like John Harvard’s statue in Harvard Yard) One that stood out – because you couldn’t miss it – was the bust of an African girl in one of the African halls at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Her very conical breasts were polished to a high gleam, while the rest of the bust had the usual patina. I suspect all those school groups that were herded through the museum. The statue wasn’t protected behind any sort of barrier, but was tantalizingly available. I think it’s been removed now I’m not surprised that her boobs were anonymously groped so often I’m surprised that there aren’t more examples. One thing I’ve noticed is that the newer bronze statues (like the TV Land ones put up twenty years ago) don’t show signs of burnishing at all. There’s one of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stevens in Salem, MA that has become an institution, and I don’t see any signs of burnshing, despite that fact that people frequently hold the statue while getting their pictures taken with it. Yet the end of her broomstick, or the points of the moon, or her boobs show no signs of polishing. I haven’t noticed any burnishing on Ralph Kramden’s statue outside the Port Authority Bus Station in New York, either. They must be using a metal alloy formulation and/or a coating that minimizes the effect. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/156 "2025-12-03T14:58:16Z")
A more respectable tradition is that of students in Paris rubbing the foot of the writer Montaigne for luck before their exams: > **[Why does the statue of Montaigne bring luck? - French Moments](https://frenchmoments.eu/statue-of-montaigne/)** > > What makes the statue of Montaigne in Paris' Latin Quarter so popular ? Click here to find out about this old student superstition. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/157 "2025-12-04T06:42:49Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > A more respectable tradition is that of students in Paris rubbing the foot of the writer Montaigne for luck before their exams: > > [https://frenchmoments.eu/statue-of-montaigne/](https://frenchmoments.eu/statue-of-montaigne/) At the University of Maryland the bronze statue of Testudo the turtle gets similar treatment around exams. > **[Testudo (mascot)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testudo_(mascot))** > > Testudo, a diamondback terrapin, is the mascot of the University of Maryland, College Park and represents the university both at sporting events and as a more general symbol. Testudo has served as the school's mascot since the 1930s, and several statues of the terrapin exist on the school's campus. > In 1932, Curley Byrd—who served as the university's football and baseball coach, athletic director, and president—proposed adopting the diamondback terrapin as a mascot. The first statue of Testudo ca... ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/158 "2025-12-11T14:40:59Z")
The people Tom Lee rescued organized a fund raiser and gifted him a home. He was given a job. Tom was invited to the White House and met President Calvin Coolidge. Link [Tom Lee ... the Memphis Hero](https://historic-memphis.com/biographies/tom-lee/tom-lee.html) There is a statue in [Tom Lee park](https://www.tomleepark.org/tom-lee). Link [https://www.tennesseedailyjournal.com/article/776914693-2025-marks-100th-anniversary-of-tom-lee-s-dramatic-rescue-of-32-from-the-mississippi-river-at-memphis](https://www.tennesseedailyjournal.com/article/776914693-2025-marks-100th-anniversary-of-tom-lee-s-dramatic-rescue-of-32-from-the-mississippi-river-at-memphis) > [@](#): > > 2025 is the year of the 100th anniversary of Memphian Tom Lee’s dramatic rescue of 32 people when the sternwheeler M.E. Norman capsized in the Mississippi River. Memphian Tom Lee carried out the rescue in his small skiff boat, the Zev, even though he couldn’t swim. Tom Lee was Black; those he rescued – engineers and their family members – were white. The park floods and there are photos with water under the statue. That’s probably why it’s built so high. [![](https://baptistleader.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tom-Lee-Statue.jpg) ](https://baptistleader.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tom-Lee-Statue.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/159 "2025-12-11T16:13:17Z")
It occurred to me that statue looks fragile. I can easily imagine kids climbing on it. Kids might sit on the outstretched arms. It doesn’t look like they can take much weight without breaking. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/160 "2025-12-11T16:34:01Z")
My University has a giant Horseshoe. Trad has it that if you put one hand on each side of the shoe, you make a wish. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416/161 "2025-12-11T21:48:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I can easily imagine kids climbing on it. Kids might sit on the outstretched arms. It doesn’t look like they can take much weight without breaking. I wouldn’t worry. Bronze is remarkably strong. They used to make cannons from it, after all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-bronze-statues-of-celebrities-so-horrible/988416.md?page=9)