Statues To Unusual Things

People commemorate the strangest things. There are all the usual monuments, of course: to wars won or lost, to heroes and their courage, to inventors and leaders and every other sort of character who stood out from the wad of humanity. Occasionally though, the process of immortalization appears to befall an unlikely recipient, which is why throughout the world there are some very unusual statues indeed.

The range of this category is wide and perplexing. There are the statues of rivers and vague intellectual concepts, statues of legends and fictional characters and even statues that don't seem to mean very much at all.
 

Statues to folk tales and legends

Perhaps the strangest statues are those that hail characters from folklore. Giants and dwarfs, princesses and witches, these mythic beings were for generations brought to life in tales told around hearth fires during many a

cold winter’s night. The more popular tales were sometimes set in stone or bronze for all to see and believe. In front of the Steen castle in Antwerp, at the entrance to the city centre, stands an excellent example of such a popular tale. The statue shows a tall figure looming on outspread legs and sneering over two tiny, terrified men.

This oversized creature is the Lange Wapper (pictured above), a demon shape-shifting trickster from legend who delighted in playing tricks and peeping into people’s houses at night, scaring the women. He was blamed for luring youngsters into sin by gambling and drinking. Unsurprisingly, he was also used by drunken husbands as an excuse when coming home to their irate wives: the Lange Wapper had paid them a visit when returning home from work and the only safe place was – of course – the bar.

The statue also used to be popular for another reason: in centuries past, it was blessed with a very large penis and was venerated by women looking for a cure against infertility. Unfortunately, the Jesuits found the statue too obscene in the 17th century and off went the appendage!

England also has a large number of unusual statues. Eternal youth is celebrated in the form of the immortal boy Peter Pan, who refuses to grow up. The statue was commissioned by J.M. Barrie, creator of the character, and appeared overnight in Kensington Gardens, London, as if by magic. In fact, the secretive placement of the statue was because the author didn’t actually have a license to erect the statue, which caused no end of trouble. Today, Peter Pan stands jauntily on his pedestal, beloved of children and adults around the world.

The statue is almost as popular with the local vandals, who have over the years repeatedly stolen the set of pan pipes held in Peter’s hand, disfigured the pedestal and otherwise made their mark on the statue. The newspaper covers the story each time it happens and takes it as an indication of the statue’s popularity.

The mythical champion of the poor also has a statue. The bronze image of Robin Hood stands tall and proud in front of Nottingham Castle, perhaps dreaming of the day when he stole the golden arrow from the sheriff. This noble man, wronged and betrayed, took to a life of crime, stealing from the rich to give to the poor (or at least that’s how the story goes). Though there is doubt that Robin Hood really existed and was simply made up by a downtrodden, miserable people desperate for a saviour, he is still a perennially popular figure. The luckless sheriff of Nottingham would probably have turned around in his grave to know that even today, more visitors visit the square to pose with the statue of his archrival rather than admire the fortress behind it.

Statues to local industries

And then there are the statues that commemorate the local industries or crafts. Quite a number of such noble figures are erected towards this end, featuring towering blacksmiths, sober winemakers and other respectable personas. In some cases of course, the results can be as charmingly quirky as any fairytale statue.

A perfect example can be seen in the heart of England's willow country – Somerset, home to a willow weaving tradition of over 1000 years. Such history is understandably the source of great pride to the locals, and what better way to celebrate the local traditions than with a colossal statue made from willow? In 2004, the year of the artist, the willows got their fifteen minutes of fame - and a little more - when a forty-foot tall statue was erected beside the busy M5 highway. Now, busy motorists speeding along the highway can enjoy the peculiar sight of a largish, vaguely humanoid figure loping majestically across the fields.

What is he running from? Nobody knows. Where is he going? Nobody knows. But pondering such questions makes for an entertaining break from the monotonous drive.

Some rather unflattering nicknames

Then there are the statues that are popular not only because of their intrinsic artistic or cultural value but also because for the affectionate disregard the locals have for the bronze monuments surrounding them.

In Dublin, Ireland, this affectionate disregard manifests as a penchant for giving alternative names to their statues. The most popular target of this casual attention can be found at the bottom of Garston Street, where stands the scantily clad bonze image of an archetypal fishmonger woman, forever frozen as she pushes along a handcart. Named from the city's unoffial anthem, Molly Malone, she is better known by her nickname, the Tart with the Cart (pictured right).

Until the late 1980’s the river Liffey that runs through the city had a monument to itself on O’ Connell Street, which featured a woman sitting  in a fountain with water running past her. This tribute to the river, formally known as Anna Livia Plurabelle, was quickly renamed Floozie in A Jacuzzi or Viagra Falls.

 By the recently restored Ha'penny Bridge over the Liffey, at the end of Liffey Street, there is a statue of two women sitting talking on a bench with shopping bags at their feet. Inevitably, they have become known as the Two Hags with Bags.

In all fairness however, female statues haven’t been the only public monuments marked by sophomoric humour: the Irish patriot Thomas Davis was honoured with a statue for his patriotism and the statue was nicknamed Frankenstein to honour the out-sized hands and odd shaped body, while the nicknames for the other male statues, heroes and leaders all, invariably involve x-rated references.

Despite the unflattering nicknames, these statues are perhaps thankful to at least have survived; in the past, Dublin had a surprising tendency to lose its statues, thanks to enthusiastic bombings from the IRA.

There are plenty of other unusual monuments. Of course, the world knows of the more famous statues – the Statue of Liberty, the gargoyles of Notre Dame, the Little Mermaid of Copenhagen and many of their brethren; but there are many more figures scattered around the world than these famous few. Finding out the story behind each strange statue is often as rewarding as finding the statue itself. Each is a curious bit of history and local colour, tucked away in an unseen corner, just waiting to be discovered.

 

Article Information
This article was written by AH Anuar and was first published 19 November 2004. This article is free for personal and commercial reproduction, with the following terms and conditions.