In 2004, the Solid Rock Church erected a 62-foot statue of Jesus lifting his arms into the air, which they named the King of Kings statue. Travelers on Ohio's Interstate 75 dubbed the figure Touchdown Jesus because of the resemblance to a referee signaling a football score (it was also dubbed "Big Butter Jesus" in a song by comedian Heywood Banks). On June 14, Touchdown Jesus was struck by lightning, and the Styrofoam and fiberglass statue burned to the ground.
In 1967, the Soviet Union dedicated a towering monument to one of its great World War II triumphs. The Motherland Calls stands 170 ft., hoisting a sword to the sky that measures another 108 ft. 200 steps lead to the base of the statue to commemorate the 200 day battle of Stalingrad where the Red Army broke a German siege, only to surround and defeat the invading army. Motherland is not fixed to her base, though, and seeping groundwater has caused the plinth to lean nearly eight inches. Russian officials worry that if she leans any further, she may topple.
Lady Liberty was a gift from France, intended to commemorate the American Centennial in 1876. But the statue wasn't completed in France until July 1884, where it was disassembled into 350 pieces and packed into 214 crates for the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. When it finally arrived in New York in July 1885, the statue sat in storage for 11 months due to a pedestal that had not yet been completed. After four months of reassembly, President Grover Cleveland finally unveiled the statue in front of thousands of spectators on October 28, 1886. She has been welcoming the huddled masses ever since.
Once the world's tallest outdoor seated Buddha (the Great Buddha of Thailand measures over 300 ft.), Tian Tan Buddha weighs in at 250 metric tons and requires visitors to climb 268 steps. On a clear day, residents of Macau, China can reportedly see the Buddha from more than 25 miles across the South China Sea. The statue takes its name from its base, which is a model of the Altar of Heaven or Earthly Mount of Tian Tan, Beijing's Temple of Heaven. Tian Tan Buddha cost nearly $68 million and took almost three years to build.
On April 3, 2010, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade unveiled the African Renaissance Statue in front of 19 African heads of state, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, rapper Akon, and representatives from North Korea. The complaints began immediately. Senegalese complained that the 160-foot tall statue made from nearly 1-inch thick copper was too expensive ($28 million), ugly (the word Stalinist was mentioned several times), and corrupt (North Korean laborers worked on the statue and President Wade claimed intellectual property rights, demanding 35 percent of the statue's revenue). The structure overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is reportedly the first thing visible when flying into Dakar.
Originally known as "The Healing Hands," two massive hands gently pressed in prayer comprise what is reportedly the largest bronze sculpture in the world. Weighing in at 30 tons, the sculpture now sits at the entrance to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. Inscribed on the base is the Bible passage Luke 2:52: "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."
Perched 2,300 feet above Rio de Janeiro on the summit of Corcovado Mountain, Christ the Redeemer stands 130 feet tall on top of a 31-foot base. His outstretched arms span close to 100 feet. Constructed between 1922 and 1931 of reinforced concrete and soapstone, Christ the Redeemer has been a popular tourist attraction as well as a worldwide symbol of Brazil's largest city since its completion. The statue made several helicopter-shot cameos in Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, which took place in the fictional "Verona Beach."
Nearly 800 years after Genghis Khan conquered most of the known world, the people of Mongolia honored him by erecting the world's largest equestrian statue in his likeness. Kahn and his horse stand 131 feet tall atop a 33-foot tall coliseum with 36 columns. Located 34 miles from Ulaanbaatar in an area known as Tsonjin Boldog, the statue commemorates the site where legend says Kahn found a golden whip. Eight centuries later, the conqueror wields a golden staff, ready to ride into battle once more.
Standing confidently with one hand on his hip and the other atop a once functional oil derrick, the Golden Driller was built on the Tulsa Fairgrounds in 1953 and has guarded the entrance to the Tulsa Expo Center for more than 40 years. His 22 tons of iron and concrete were built to withstand a 200-mile-per-hour tornado and Oklahoma declared him the official state monument in 1979. A plaque at the Driller's base reads, "to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God's abundance a better life for mankind." While a popular sentiment in many regions, residents of the Gulf Coast might disagree.
If he wasn't bright orange and enormous, you almost might miss the mighty Hanuman amid the swirling traffic and chaos of New Delhi's Karol Bagh district. But there he stands, the Hindu monkey deity in all his glory — albeit behind an elevated rapid-transit track and next to a billboard. In Hindu mythology, Hanuman is the commander of the monkey army. Born the child of a nymph and the wind god and blessed with the ability to fly and grow infinitely large, as a wee tyke he flew up and tried to grab the sun — mistaking it for a piece of fruit. Hanuman later used his powers for good and, for his service to the Hindu god Rama, is upheld throughout India as a model for all human devotion.
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