In 2014,Finnish artist Tommi Toija decided that the problem with the Mannekin Pis is that it’s not big enough (rather than it is rubbish). So he created another urinating statue for the world to enjoy.
This time it’s 8.5 metres tall,with a suitably sheepish red face,and it unleashes on the pavement next to Helsinki’s West Harbour. See tommitoija.com
The Statue of Unity
Vallabhbhai Patel was an Indian independence campaigner and former deputy prime minister. It’s understandable that there might be a statue of him near the town of Kevadia in Gujurat.
What is slightly less understandable is why it needs to be 182 metres tall,on top of a 58-metre base,costing $635 million to build. Nevertheless,this is now the biggest statue in the world. See soultickets.in
The Great Buddha of Thailand
Some religions don’t wish for their holy figures to be depicted in statue form,but it’s fair to say Buddhism is not one of them. Four of the world’s ten tallest statues are of the Buddha,with the Spring Temple Buddha in Lushan,China,the biggest.
However,the most arrestingly bizarre is the Great Buddha of Thailand in Ang Thong. It’s 92 metres tall,painted a dazzling gold colour,and depicts the Buddha seating cross-legged.
The Neutrality Monument
The former dictator of Turkmenistan,Saparmurat Niyazov,had a bit of an ego on him. He had the Neutrality Monument – a 75 metre-tall tripod-esque arch,with a 12-metre golden statue on top – built in central Ashqabat.
The statue,of course,was of Niyazov and it rotated to face the sun. In 2010,Niyazov’s successor had both the monument and statue shifted to the suburbs to make the country look a bit less like a personality cult.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger Statue
You could perhaps understand a 2.4-metre bronze statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Arnie’s birthplace of Thal,Austria. However,this tribute to theTerminator star,all muscles bulging in bodybuilder pose,is in … Columbus,Ohio.
The Ohio capital was where Schwarzenegger won the 1970 Mr World competition,and the preening statue currently stands outside the Greater Columbus Convention Centre. See experiencecolumbus.com
The Rocky Statue
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has one of the world’s most venerable art collections,with tens of thousands of reverently displayed works from around the world. So it must be maddening that the most famous artwork is the three metre-tall statue of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky,commissioned by Stallone himself as a film prop,at the bottom of the steps to the front entrance.
The Rocky Steps,of course,are the one the fictional boxer ran up repeatedly in the training montage sequences. Seerockystatue.com
The stomping baby
The Vigeland Park in Oslo,Norway,has plenty of rather weird sculptures. There are more than 200 of them,all shaped from granite,stone or iron by artist Gustav Vigeland.
The one that tends to grab the attention,however,is the one of an angry naked baby,bawling its eyes out and stamping its foot in an almighty tantrum. See vigelandmuseum.no
The Big Galah
Let’s face it,most of Australia’s ludicrous Big Things qualify as absurd statues. For sheer unnecessary upscaling,however,the Big Galah in Kimba,South Australia,has to be the champion.
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The 8-metre pink bird by the Eyre Highway also happens to stand next to another wonderfully tacky gimmick – the Halfway Across Australia sign. See kimba.sa.gov.au