Often heard about the jaw-dropping monuments in a certain place, but never about those weird monuments that make you crinkle your forehead and think who made this and why? These weird monuments may not be as popular as the impressive Eiffel tower or the Great Wall of China, but are alluring yet strange and mystifying. AirTkt has listed down 6 weird monuments around the World you have to see in person that will make you marvel at the wackiness of the creator.
Boll Weevil Monument, Alabama
The sweet home Alabama is also weird home Alabama. The state has a memorial in honor of an insect – boll weevil. Yes, you heard that right! It is a statue of a woman holding a pedestal with a boll weevil hovering on top. Erected by the citizens of the Enterprise in 1919, the prominent landmark pays tribute to the insect, for its profound influence on Alabama’s agriculture and economy. In the early 20th century, the state’s crops were damaged by this very insect which forced farmer’s to grow alternative crops such as peanuts. This proved to a boom for Alabama’s Enterprise County as they recorded the largest peanut harvest in America in 1919.
Kindlifresser Fountain, Switzerland
This monument in Bern, Switzerland is a fountain where an ogre – monster, man-like being- is devouring a naked child and has many more terrified children in a sack under his arm presumably to eat next. Created in 1545/46, by the Renaissance sculptor Hans Gieng, the statue’s implication and meaning has been lost to history. While there are many theories to its origin, one thing is certain that this weird monument is a scare for children even nearly 500 years later.
Isla de las Muñecas, Mexico
Would you enjoy going to a place where hundreds of dolls with severed heads, decapitated heads, and blank eyes adorn the trees? Creepy isn’t it? But this is what the island in Mexico is famous for. According to the legends, Don Julian, the custodian of the island found a girl drowned in mystifying circumstances and her doll floating near the canals. While he was not able to save the girl, he picked up her doll and hung it to a tree, commemorating her memories. Later, the locals started considering this as charmed place. Though done in the right spirit, the macabre-looking place is weird and can scare you terribly even during the day. It isn’t for the feint heart.
Manneken Pis, Belgium
The famous small bronze sculpture of a naked little boy peeing into a fountain basin is weird. Why would anyone built a monument like this to last for centuries? Well, as the history goes, the statue is the emblem of the rebellious spirit of the City of Brussels. Until 2019, the statue was weeing fresh clean drinking water – 1,000 to 2,500 liters of it a day, enough for 10 households. Well, so much for the culture of Brussels?
Upside-Down Statue of King Wenceslas, Prague
Created by David Černý, this weird sculpture looks a mocking tribute to the leadership of Prague. Hanging from the ceiling of the Art Nouveau Lucerna Palace, an ancient king – Wenceslas, rides victoriously across an upside-down, apparently dead horse. The Czechs’ don’t even spare the saint from their cheeky sense of humor.
Blucifer, Denver Airport
Welcoming you to Denver, stands a 9,000-pound, blue, demonic-looking mustang sculpture created by Luis Jiménez. Standing upon his hind legs with its vicious flanks, the statue is nothing but weird. Seems like the Denver airport apparently missed a memo and thus, they had no choice but this. What is more disturbing is the fact that the sculpture resulted in death of its creator when a part of it fell on him in 2006.
The Hess Triangle, New York
The smallest landmark on this list is also the most spiteful. The Hess Triangle came to be when hundreds of buildings—including an apartment owned by a Mr. David Hess—were demolished to make way for subway lines in New York City. After the buildings were levelled, all that was left of Hess’s property was a tiny triangle of ground, which he refused to donate to the city, and marked as “never been dedicated for public purposes.” Nevertheless, pedestrians constantly “trespass” on the triangle, which, if you don’t examine it carefully, looks like just another piece of cement.
