30 Ugly And/Or Useless Public Monuments From Around The World That People Are Still Trying To Explain
I drove past the Leaning Tower of Niles this week and I want to be clear that it’s a full-scale replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa sitting in the middle of a suburb of Chicago next to a YMCA and I have lived near it long enough that I completely stopped seeing it. It just exists there. It’s been there since 1934. Nobody questions it. You just drive past a leaning tower on your way to get groceries, and that’s that.
The point is, every place has something like this. Some city or town or country that looked around and made a choice that nobody’s been able to explain since fully.
These monuments are from an r/AskTheWorld thread asking people what ugly or useless attractions their country is stuck with and the answers are from all over the world and every single one of them is completely believable.
“Does your country have an ugly/useless monument or attraction?”
1. The Headington Shark in Headington, Oxford
“It was installed by local radio DJ Bill Heine. He installed it without planning permission and there was 20 year war of letters.
Now the council has recognised it as a local landmark.”
2. This green, 79-foot-tall inflatable sculpture by artist Paul McCarthy is titled “Tree” and was installed in Paris’s Place Vendôme in 2014.
“Behold!”
While officially intended to be an abstract representation of a Christmas tree, the installation drew intense controversy and media attention for its strong resemblance to an adult toy.
3. Vancouver House is a 59-story neo-futurist residential skyscraper in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
“This building in Vancouver is my personal vote. It just looks to me like an extra heavy gust of wind would knock it over…”
4. Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue in Plains, Georgia
“This monstrosity”
5. “Santa Claus” created by American artist Paul McCarthy. Located in the Eendrachtsplein square in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
“Supposed to be santa claus.”
6. “The Sphere in Las Vegas”
“A 516ft/157m wide emoji”
7. Glasgow Tower in Glasgow, Scotland.
“Glasgow tower. The world’s tallest, fully rotating tower. £10m. Doesn’t work. Never open. Sometimes goes on fire.”
8. The Big Pineapple located in Woombye, Queensland, Australia
Actual-Associate-808:
That’s actually pretty awesome.
9. The infamous Cisewu tiger statue, which stood in front of an Indonesian military base in West Java.
“Our beloved”
10. 70-foot-tall golden statue of Lionel Messi holding the World Cup trophy in Kolkata, India
“We recently erected this 70 ft statue of Lionel Messi.
It was unveiled during his 3 day tour to India on which $36 million were reportedly spent.
Meanwhile, our national football team continues to suffer from a lack of public support, infrastructure and funds due to corruption.”
11. “Moonrise. East. November” by artist Ugo Rondinone, a large smiling head sculpture positioned on a city staircase in Oslo, Norway.
This nightmare fuel.
12. Kirkkojärvi lake fountain in Haapavesi, Finland
“A town elected to build a fountain for 10k, this was the result.
After corruption discussions it achieved meme status and people travel to see how small it is.”
13. The Žižkov Television Tower in Prague, featuring the famous “Crawling Babies” sculptures by artist David Černý.
“Thanks I hate it”
14. The “Rotonda de los Pavos” (Roundabout of the Peacocks) located in Jaén, Spain
Roundabout of the Peacocks, Jaén.
15. This is the 11.5-meter tall “Seeding” sculpture by artist Linda Bakke, located in Stange, Norway.
“11.5-meter tall … in Stange, paid for with taxpayer money of course.”
16. Controversial bronze monument to Peter the Great located in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia
“Shemyakin’s Peter the Great statue. The proportions are like he’s from a yaoi manga”
17. Baleia B32, a 20-meter-long metal whale sculpture located at the B32 Theater on Faria Lima Avenue in São Paulo, Brazil
“On São Paulo’s Faria Lima Avenue, often called the Brazilian equivalent of Wall Street, a large office building installed a quirky whale sculpture on its façade.
This Christmas, they topped it with a festive hat that ended up looking a bit suspicious.”
18. The Ämmän Päre environmental artwork located in Suomussalmi, Finland.
“This. Was over 100t euros. It’s supposed to shoot a red beam to the sky and glow in Red when it’s dark, but it never really does, or that I have seen.”
19. Viaduto da Jamel Cecílio in Goiânia, Brazil
“The structure features a prominent monument representing a hand holding a guitar neck, celebrating the region’s connection to music.”
20. “Fryga” (Spinning Top), a 7-meter-tall modernist art installation in Szczecin, Poland
“For my city (Szczecin) that would be removed now Fryga statue.”
21. Gastown Steam Clock in Vancouver, Canada
“Crowds will gather around this ‘historic landmark’ to hear to it whistle *BOOOOOO booooooo* while a little steam comes out the top.
Vancouver’s top tourist attraction, apparently.”
22. A fiberglass equestrian statue of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest in Nashville, Tennessee
“There is a gilded fiberglass statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest off Highway 65 in Tennessee, just south of Nashville”
23. “Krantinės arka” (Embankment Arch) located in Vilnius, Lithuania
“I present to you this beautiful art installation in the capital of Lithuania.”
24. The Boll Weevil Monument in Enterprise, Alabama
“How about the Boll Weevil Monument in Alabama?
Yes that is a sculpture of a woman holding a traffic cone with a boll weevil on top. Why would they have a monument of a bug that eats cotton?”
25. War of Independence Victory Column in Tallinn, Estonia
“Our war of independence victory column. I don’t know how people feel about it these days but it was widely panned when it was built in 2009 because of how hideous it looks up close.
It also kept falling apart and needed constant repairs.”
26. Statue of Frankenstein’s monster eating Burger King. in Niagara Falls, Canada
“My hometown Niagara Falls is full of this stuff. Exhibit A, Frankenstein eating Burger King”
27. The Bristol Brasil 500 Hotel is a 4-star hotel in Curitiba, Brazil
“The Marge Simpson building”
28. Canopy walkway in Nyírmártonfalva, Hungary
“Treetop Walk without trees.”
29. “The Egg” in Buenos Aires, Argentina
“The egg monument in Buenos Aires. It has another name and symbolism, but nobody cares, it is an egg. Like the cloud gate in Chicago that is the bean (and the bean is amazing. Not the cloud gate)
The funny thing is that I’m always thinking what could happen if it rolls downhill the street. I think that almost everyone is going to check it and push it a little bit.”
30. Wrocław Needle (Iglica) in front of the Centennial Hall
“Wrocław has something similar to Dublin.
Iglica is a communist monument for Poland regaining control over the formerly German ‘Recovered Territories’, built in 1948.”