Statues are the finest exhibition of architectural prowess since the time known or unknown. These extraordinary work of art ranging from ancient, medieval, or modern times, quite subtly manifest the best of the era. Be it the rock-cut pieces from prehistoric eras or some of the finest yet giant monolithic pieces from medieval times, these famous statues in the world have fascinated tourists and archaeologists the most. Moreover, these statues have enjoyed their share of fame over the period.
1. Statue Of Liberty, New York
The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
2. Christ The Redeemer, Rio De Janeiro
The Laykyun Sekkya Buddha is, as of 2018, the third-tallest statue in the world at 116 metres (381 ft). This statue of Gautama Buddha stands on a 13.5-metre (44 ft) throne located in the village of Khatakan Taung, near Monywa, Myanmar. Construction began in 1996 and it was completed on 21 February 2008. It was commissioned by the Chief Abbot Ven. Nãradã.[citation needed]. It was the tallest statue in the world for a few months until the completion of the Spring Temple Buddha in September 2008. The Laykyun Sekkya statue depicts a standing Gautama Buddha next to a recling statue of Gautama Buddha, depicting the scene of Mahaparinirvana.
3. Moai, Easter Island, Chile
Moai /ˈmoʊ.aɪ/ (listen) or moʻai (Spanish: moái, Rapa Nui: moʻai, meaning "statue" in Rapa Nui) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna).[3] The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island in 1722, but all of them had fallen by the latter part of the 19th century. The moai were toppled in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, possibly as a result of European contact or internecine tribal wars.
4. Little Mermaid, Denmark
The Little Mermaid (Danish: Den lille Havfrue) is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming human. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen, Denmark.[a] It is 1.25 metres (4.1 ft) tall[2] and weighs 175 kilograms (385 lb). Based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since its unveiling in 1913. In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists.
5. The Thinker, Paris
The Thinker (French: Le Penseur) is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, usually placed on a stone pedestal. The work depicts a nude male figure of heroic size sitting on a rock. He is seen leaning over, his right elbow placed on his left thigh, holding the weight of his chin on the back of his right hand. The pose is one of deep thought and contemplation, and the statue is often used as an image to represent philosophy. Rodin conceived the figure as part of his work The Gates of Hell commissioned in 1880, but the first of the familiar monumental bronze castings was made in 1904, and is now exhibited at the Musée Rodin, in Paris.
6. David Statue, Italy
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is a 5.17-metre (17 ft 0 in)[a] marble statue of the Biblical figure David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. 3D interactive model David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, in the Piazza della Signoria, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. The statue was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica.
7. Terrace Of The Lions, Delos, Greece
The Lions of Delos once graced the famous ‘Terrace of the Lions’ on the sacred island of Delos, Greece. The Terrace of the Lions was dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BCE. It originally had nine to twelve squatting, snarling marble guardian lions along the Sacred Way.
8. The Statues Of Mount Nemrut, Turkey
Mount Nemrut or Nemrud (Turkish: Nemrut Dağı; Kurdish: Çiyayê Nemrûdê; Armenian: Նեմրութ լեռ; Greek: Όρος Νεμρούτ) is a 2,134-metre-high (7,001 ft) mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BC. It is one of the highest peaks in the east of the Taurus Mountains. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The entry states:
9. The Motherland Calls Statue, Russia
The Motherland Calls (Russian: Родина-мать зовёт!, tr. Rodina-mat' zovyot!, lit. 'Homeland-Mother Is Calling!') is the compositional centre of the monument-ensemble "Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, Russia. The statue is designed in the Soviet style of socialist realism. It was designed by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich and structural engineer Nikolai Nikitin, and declared the tallest statue in the world in 1967. At 85 m (279 ft), it is the tallest statue in Europe, the tallest outside of Asia and the tallest statue (excluding pedestals) of a woman in the world.
10. The Statue of Unity, India
The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue, with a height of 182 metres (597 feet), located in the state of Gujarat, India. It depicts Indian statesman and independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), who was the first deputy prime minister and home minister of independent India and an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi. Patel was highly respected for his leadership in uniting 562 princely states of India with a major part of the former British Raj to form the single Union of India. In Gujarat the statue is found on the Narmada River in the Kevadiya colony, facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam 100 kilometres (62 mi) southeast of the city of Vadodara. The project was first announced in 2010, and construction of the statue started in October 2013 by Indian company Larsen & Toubro, with a total construction cost of ₹2,700 crore (US$422 million). It was designed by Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar and was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 31 October 2018, the 143rd anniversary of Patel's birth.
11. The Manneken Pis, Belgium
Manneken Pis (Dutch: [ˌmɑnəkə(m) ˈpɪs] (listen); Dutch for 'Little Pissing Man') is a landmark 61 cm (24 in) bronze fountain sculpture in central Brussels, Belgium, depicting a puer mingens or naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. It was designed by the Brabantine sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1618 or 1619. The current statue is a replica which dates from 1965. The original is kept in the Brussels City Museum. Manneken Pis is one of the best-known symbols of Brussels and Belgium. It is also an example of belgitude (French; lit. 'Belgianness'), as well as of folk humour (zwanze) popular in Brussels.
12. Great Sphinx Of Giza, Egypt
The Great Sphinx of Giza, commonly referred to as the Sphinx of Giza, Great Sphinx or just the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human, and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre. Cut from the bedrock, the original shape of the Sphinx has been restored with layers of limestone blocks.[3] It measures 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches. Its nose was broken off for unknown reasons between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD.
13. Spring Temple Buddha, China
The Spring Temple Buddha (Chinese: 中原大佛 and simplified Chinese: 鲁山大佛; traditional Chinese: 魯山大佛) is a colossal statue depicting Vairocana Buddha located in the Zhaocun township of Lushan County, Henan, China, built from 1997 to 2008. It is located within the Fodushan Scenic Area, close to National Freeway no. 311. At 128 metres (420 ft), excluding a 25 metres (82 ft) lotus throne, it is the second-tallest statue in the world after the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, India, which surpassed it in 2018 with a height of 182 metres (597 ft).
14. The Pieta, Tuscany
The Pietà (Italian: [pjeˈta]; 1498–1499) is a work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. It is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist. The statue was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, who was the French ambassador in Rome. The sculpture, in Carrara marble, was made for the cardinal's funeral monument, but was moved to its current location, the first chapel on the north side after the entrance of the basilica, in the 18th century.[1] It is the only piece Michelangelo ever signed. It is also the only known sculpture created by a prominent name from the Renaissance era to be installed in St. Peter's Basilica that was accepted by the Chapter of St. Peter.
15. The Terracotta Army, Xian
The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong County, outside Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. The figures vary in height according to their roles, the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits near Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.
16. Olmec Colossal Heads, San Lorenzo
The Olmec colossal heads are stone representations of human heads sculpted from large basalt boulders. They range in height from 1.17 to 3.4 metres (3.8 to 11.2 ft). The heads date from at least 900 BC and are a distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. All portray mature individuals with fleshy cheeks, flat noses, and slightly-crossed eyes; their physical characteristics correspond to a type that is still common among the inhabitants of Tabasco and Veracruz. The backs of the monuments often are flat. The boulders were brought from the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas mountains of Veracruz. Given that the extremely large slabs of stone used in their production were transported over large distances (over 150 kilometres (93 mi)), requiring a great deal of human effort and resources, it is thought that the monuments represent portraits of powerful individual Olmec rulers. Each of the known examples has a distinctive headdress. The heads were variously arranged in lines or groups at major Olmec centres, but the method and logistics used to transport the stone to these sites remain unclear. They all display distinctive headgear and one theory is that these were worn as protective helmets, maybe worn for war or to take part in a ceremonial Mesoamerican ballgame.
17. The Leshan Giant Buddha, Sichuan
The Leshan Giant Buddha (Chinese: 樂山大佛) is a 71-metre (233 ft) tall stone statue, built between 713 and 803 (during the Tang dynasty). It is carved out of a cliff face of Cretaceous red bed sandstones that lies at the confluence of the Min River and Dadu River in the southern part of Sichuan province in China, near the city of Leshan. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below its feet. It is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world. It is over 4 km from the Wuyou Temple. The Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.
18. Merlion, Singapore
The Merlion is the official mascot of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to represent both the city state and its people in sports teams, advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification. The Merlion was first used in Singapore as the logo for the tourism board. Its name combines "mer", meaning the sea, and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name—Singapura—meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".
