Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
I bet you've noticed that almost every city has its own creative sculptures or statues, usually tucked along streets or city squares. Some of them are pretty ordinary, but others... Other famous sculptures can be extremely eye-catching and conversation-provoking.
The oldest known statuette, named Venus of Hohle Fels, dates back to around 33.000 - 38.000 BCE, and since then the sculpture art has changed in many ways. If this form of art was used to depict the surrounding world at first, then quickly it became a way to worship gods and later, as it turned to classical art era, to commemorate famous people. Now, modern sculptures might represent an idea and not an object or a living being at all, take odd shapes, and be made from absolutely any material imaginable.
To save you some trips across the world, Bored Panda has put together a list of the most creative sculptures and famous statues found throughout the globe. Some are old, some are modern art pieces, but they're all super creative and awe-inspiring. Take a look below and don't forget to vote for your favorite works of art - either classical or created by modern sculptors.
Did we miss any? Post your pics in the comment section!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Expansion By Paige Bradley, New York, Usa
Alyssa Vaisey 9 years ago
Her blog doesn't mention it, but cool story on how this was conceived. http://paigebradley.com/blog/the-story-of-expansion/
Load More Replies...
Jack Allread 4 years ago
There is a gallery in Santa Fe, NM that offered this sculpture (at least pre-covid), they look great in person too!
Melissa Mclaughlin 5 years ago
For some reason this sculpture reminds me of my stepdaughters!!!!!
RELATED:
#2
Dramatic Fairy Sculpture Dancing With Dandelion By Robin Wight, Uk
Amber Ridgdill 9 years ago
His sculptures actually turn as the wind changes. They're beautiful. He has a "making of" video on youtube that is pretty awesome
#3
Colossus, Florence, Italy
marie battisti 9 years ago
He is the god of the mountains, and is named Appennino. He was made in the 1500s by Italian sculptor Giambologna as a symbol of Italy’s rugged Appenine mountains.
marie battisti 9 years ago
He is located NE of the quake center, about 311km from Florence. The quake was felt in Florence, but so far there have been no reports of any damage there.
Load More Replies...
Leslie Cully 9 years ago
This is so wonderful. It seems I read somewhere that you used to be able to go inside.
Carol Dagg-Lake 6 years ago
I so wish I could visit some of these wonderful things and towns. The lord has provided our world with some amazing talented humans
#4
Inner Children Trapped Inside Adult Bodies By Alexander Milov
Сашка Бес 9 years ago
this work named " Love " by Alexander Milov, an artist from Odessa, Ukraine
Aimee Elizabeth 9 years ago
I've seen this before and it always makes me stop and look all over again
Load More Replies...
Julie Julie 9 years ago
That was at the burning man festival, it's such a beautiful and meaningful sculpture
#5
The Force Of Nature By Lorenzo Quinn
Amy Root 9 years ago
I think this actually turns on it's pedestal, which the movement adds a different layer. Seeing it static is not the same.
Load More Replies...
Paula Miller 5 years ago
Weird juxtaposition - the wind is forcing the garments backwards but trying to seize an orb going forward... I can only venture to guess the orb had so much force it was leaving a tail wind?
#6
Mustangs By Robert Glen, Las Colinas, Texas, Usa
Jariayah Johnson 4 years ago
This is a phenomenal art sculpture, and very creative. http://www.gobronze.org/artists/glen/mustangs.html
#7
Black Ghost, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Judy Semmens 9 years ago
This sculpture did what real art is supposed to do: it made me think. First it reminded me of the Nazgul in Lord of the Rings. Then it reminded me of the philosopher Diogenes, who carried a lantern and claimed to be searching for an honest man. Finally it reminded me of the Zen koan about the blind man and the lantern, who bumped into someone because the lantern made him over-confident. Thank you!
Hurjae Agustin 3 years ago
reminds me of the shadow of yharnam, also reminds me of mergo's wet nurse in bloodborne.
#8
The Caring Hand, Glarus, Switzerland
Ioana Marc 9 years ago
You saw the opportunity...and you took it. Good for you! :)))
Load More Replies...
Tammy Chapman 9 years ago
There is a children's book called "The Giving Tree" that would go perfectly with this piece. My 21 year old daughter took her copy of it when she moved away a few years ago, she wouldn't let me keep it for her. The rest are still here, but she took that one. The book reminds me of my Meme and my Mom. I know I'm supposed to be an adult, but I love that little book. I wonder if the artist of this piece read that little book. Either way it's a beautiful and well thought out piece.
John Osborn 5 years ago
Reminds me of the Golden Bridge at Bà Nà Hills resort, near Da Nang, Vietnam. Since those hands support the bridge, not sure they are considered just sculpture.
Rosemary Schmid 5 years ago
Good thought. Sculpture, I think, can be "useful" AND sculpture. I have seen a photo of the Golden Bridge. Think about Rodin's "The Gates of Hell" and those doors, although never "used" as doors, are certainly sculpture.
Load More Replies...
#9
Break Through From Your Mold By Zenos Frudakis, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Usa
Moi Ra 9 years ago
Reminds me of this one by my mother, Ursula Focke, in Goslar / Germany ... :) p1080764-5...3a8c7f.jpg 
#10
Mihai Eminescu, Onesti, Romania
Dinu Desculţ 9 years ago
Mihai Eminescu is the national poet of my country - Romania. I was near to this artwork !
#11
The Rain Man By Jean-michel Folon, Italy
#12
Diminish And Ascend By David Mccracken, Bondi, Australia
Caroline Myklebust 9 years ago
It's a optical illusion ^^ The stairs are just made smaller, like a thorn.
Chairs R Awesome 9 years ago
I thought it actually went on... thanks for the clarification
Load More Replies...
LittleLurker 9 years ago
Is this one an optical illusion where it looks like it goes on forever depending on the angle from which you view it from, or?
Daria B 9 years ago
In a Toy Dolls' voice: "I'll take the elevator, please."
Load More Replies... 
#13
Popped Up By Ervin Loránth Hervé, Budapest, Hungary
#14
Viccisitudes By Jason Decaires Taylor, Grenada, Vest Indies
Andrea Charikar 5 years ago
"Vicissitudes” is a large circle of figures shackled together and holding hands, off the coast of Grenada in the Caribbean. Vicissitudes by Jason deCaire Taylor. It remembers the captive Africans who died on slave ships during the Middle Passage, the crossing from Africa to the Americas.
Amber Ridgdill 9 years ago
The reasn for it being underwater: http://www.underwatersculpture.com/environment/artificial-reefs/
#15
Raindrop By Nazar Bilyk, Ukraine
#16
Shadow Street Art, Kaunas, Lithuania
Marius Jan 5 years ago
The sculpture is called "The sower". The star part was made by a street artist "morfai". Unfortunately the city government painted over the stars because it was a vandalism apparently. I personally think it was a fantastic idea.
#17
Sinking Building Outside State Library, Melbourne, Australia
Dina Nelson 5 years ago
Also shows the sinking loss of actual books with pages we can touch, quiet conversations with friends and a legacy due to the underlying loss of a world to technology. Sad in so many aspects! 😔
Mimzy Melis 5 years ago
This is made by my friend’s brother. I cannot remember his first name, but his last name is Spronk.
#18
Epic 1,320-ton God Of War Statue In China
Jennifer Martin 9 years ago
But it shows how huge this statue really is, it gives it a perspective
Load More Replies... 
#19
Hippo Sculptures, Taipei, Taiwan
Carol Dagg-Lake 6 years ago
I would like to take my grandchildren to this sculpture. Of course they would love it.
#20
The Shoes On The Danube Bank By Can Togay & Gyula Pauer, Budapest, Hungary
Kazzywazzy 9 years ago
It represents Jews shot in Budapest during WWII - they were ordered to remove their shoes first.
Load More Replies...
Griselle Lugo 9 years ago
I saw this amazing work of art on my recent trip to Budapest and it is so realistic it made me feel really sad.
#21
Les Voyageurs, Marseilles, France
Sherrie Buck 8 years ago
I haven't found one un-haunted sculpture yet in this post...
Load More Replies... 
#22
The Monument Of An Anonymous Passerby, Wroclaw, Poland
Katze Okapi 9 years ago
Actually that is not the complete version.One can find more of them on the other side of the street. On that side the sculptures are slowly sinking into the ground, while they are coming from the ground in this one. For more pictures: https://gallivance.net/2013/12/05/wroclaws-anonymous-pedestrians-remembering-martial-law/
#23
Ocean Atlas: Massive Underwater Statue Of Girl Carrying The Ocean On Her Shoulders
Aneta Kowalkowska 9 years ago
This pole is for boats to not hit the sculpture underwater...
Load More Replies...
Sherrie Buck 8 years ago
ISK BUT no WONDER oceans are rising.. they keep putting this type of c**p in there, plus all the sunken crafts and ships, not to mention billions and trillions of tons of trash over millennia
Kerrie Oso 5 years ago
The oceans are rising because the ice caps are melting. The statues they put on the floor of the ocean actually help as coral will attach itself to them and create more coral reefs. That doesn’t in anyway excuse the garbage that gets dumped in the sea though.
Load More Replies... #24
De Vaartkapoen, Brussels, Belgium
#25
Nelson Mandela, South Africa
Starflower26 9 years ago
Nelson Mandela Sculpture by Marco Cianfanelli, just outside Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was here on 5 August 1962, that Nelson Mandela was finally captured by police and his "Long Walk to Freedom" began.
Judy Semmens 9 years ago
A man with a great heart, sadly missed. That's a very clever sculpture.
Gloria Hall 8 years ago
Thanks for posting. This is a wonderful example of using art to present an uncomfortable truth.
#26
People Of The River By Chong Fah Cheong, Singapore
#27
Kelpies, Grangemouth, Uk
Joan Cleary Dumay 5 years ago
They are actually in Falkirk SCOTLAND 🏴🤗
Load More Replies... Sherrie Buck 8 years ago
A kelpie is a shape-changing aquatic spirit of Scottish legend. Its name may derive from the Scottish Gaelic words ‘cailpeach’ or ‘colpach’, meaning heifer or colt. Kelpies are said to haunt rivers and streams, usually in the shape of a horse. The Kelpies WikiCommons The Kelpies in Falkirk (photo © Beninjam200, WikiCommons) But beware…these are malevolent spirits! The kelpie may appear as a tame pony beside a river. It is particularly attractive to children – but they should take care, for once on its back, its sticky magical hide will not allow them to dismount! Once trapped in this way, the kelpie will drag the child into the river and then eat him. These water horses can also appear in human form. They may materialize as a beautiful young woman, hoping to lure young men to their death. Or they might take on the form of a hairy human lurking by the river, ready to jump out at unsuspecting travellers and crush them to death in a vice-like grip.
Sherrie Buck 8 years ago
CREEPY every single sculpture thus far is just creepy
Load More Replies...
Phil Murphy 9 years ago
I cycle underneath them every morning going to work. They're 90 foot high of awesome!
Mark Evans 9 years ago
I wouldn't refer the location as UK. It's in Scotland as Kelpies are a Scottish Legend.
#28
The Knotted Gun, Turtle Bay, New York, Usa
Mette Ussing 4 years ago
Sculpture by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, Sweden, Bronze 1985, made after the murdering of John Lennon
Jim Naughton 5 years ago
Did this not appear outside the United Nations building in the 1980s?
#29
Jaume Plensa Sculptures, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
John Doe 9 years ago
Seems like a game we should all be playing right now.
Load More Replies...
Antony Aston 4 years ago
I used to live within walking distance of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I spent a lot of time there growing up. It was a huge inspiration for me.
Michelle Gibbs-kozlowski 5 years ago
Has words written on their backs and heads...wonder what it all says?!
#30
Salmon Sculpture, Portland, Oregon, Usa
Matthew Cockshutt 9 years ago
Out of all of the statues in Portland... You chose the big fish.
HARRISON RAY 5 years ago
Out of all the last names you could've got... you ended up with that one?
Load More Replies...
Edison Michael 9 years ago
The salmon is a fun idea, but the brickwork looks a little too nice and tidy for the effect it is trying, doesn't it?
Bonnie Condict 6 years ago
nature can , at times , be very symmetrical :>}
Load More Replies...
Lisa Stallings 3 years ago
Who is the artist ? I like context so I can see the rest of their work…
Joshua Seaman 5 years ago
I'm from Portland, and I don't even know this statue. There's no way it's one of the 42 most amazing sculptures in the world. It's not even one of the most amazing ones in Portland.
Sherrie Buck 8 years ago
people would freak out if a fish that size actually flew out from the ocean somewhere and crashed through a building like that.. creepy factor +9
#31
Man Hanging Out, Prague, Czech Republic
#32
The Rising Tide By Jason Decaires Taylor, London
Dina Nelson 5 years ago
I did not see this when I was in London in 2018. Took a tour on the Thames River, is this where it is located??
#33
A Day Out, Adelaide, Australia
Adrian Jenkin (MarauderDeuce) 9 years ago
Not surprisingly little kids absolutely love these guys.
Jeff Christensen 5 years ago
It is on Rundle Mall, not far from another sculpture which is two spheres one on top if the other, affectionately known to locals as The Mall's Balls.
Load More Replies... 
Jeanne Serrano 5 years ago
This "sounder of swine" sculptures would look best milling around the pavement outside of AMEX, NASDAQ and NYSE on Wall Street in lower Manhattan.
#34
Magic Wire Mesh Sculpture By Pauline Ohrel, France
Aimee Elizabeth 9 years ago
Took me a few seconds to see it. Seriously peaceful. And perfect weather backdrop for the picture.
#35
Cattle Drive, Dallas, Texas, Usa
Jan Gaulding 9 years ago
I have seen these up close and personal and they are stunning. Esp. the horses with their flared nostrils. Beautiful.
#36
Metalmorphosis By David Cherny At The Whitehall Technology Park, Charlotte, Nc
Amber Ridgdill 9 years ago
Č is a ch sound, and since many English speakers do not have their keyboards set in a manner that permits the typing of a Č, it is common practice to type it phonetically.
Load More Replies...
#37
The Unknown Official, Reykjavik, Iceland
Dina Nelson 5 years ago
Saw this last year when I was in Iceland! There are a few other great sculptures around Reykjavik! A great place to visit!
#38
The Shark, Oxford, Uk
#39
A Scene From The World War With Real-size Statues, Eceabat, Turkey
Dincer Koroglu 9 years ago
also very impressive covered with snow. http://mobil.hurriyet.com.tr/eceabatta-heykeller-kar-altinda-27873702
Amber Ridgdill 9 years ago
I looked up some pictures of that. It's weird, they sort of look like computer generated 3D models lol I don't know if it's the lighting the photographer used or what. The snow does make it that much more somber though.
Load More Replies... #40
Man At Work, Bratislava, Slovakia
Griselle Lugo 9 years ago
I have a picture next I this guy! Actually, they call him the lazy worker, I think, because he is just not doing what he is supposed to be doing!
Adam Drapák 9 years ago
Actually we call him (i guess it can be translated like that) Stalker
Load More Replies...
Lisa Beatty 5 years ago
i saw this guy... was wondering if he was gonna be included in this post
#41
Iguana Park, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tiny Dynamine 9 years ago
There is a real iguana park in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It's lovely to hang out with them.
Michelle Gibbs-kozlowski 5 years ago
Would be nice if the folks there didn’t litter the exhibit!
#42
Spider, Tate Modern, London, Uk
Naima Ivansdóttir 9 years ago
it's Louise Bourgeois's, there's also one in Washington DC
Load More Replies...
Heidi Astraia 5 years ago
A version of this is also at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville Arkansas!
Gotzone Foster 5 years ago
loved it, saw it several times at the Guggenheim in Bilbao - Bizkaia - Basque Country of Spain
Add New Image
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
David Gallagher 9 years ago
Zoggolopoulos' Umbrellas in Greece is also pretty neat. DSC09134-5...7de1b8.jpg 
Linda de Sosa 5 years ago
The little gnomes all over Wroclaw, Poland. The black cat house in riga, Latvia. The horses in the Thames in London.
Fj Bs 5 years ago
Than you so much , all pic are very nice , Centro de negocios de MIramar , la Habana Cuba ( Bisness district ) miramar-el...ac8f3d.jpg 
Maggy Graham 5 years ago
Wonderful. But I have found a photo of another sculpture, and don't know if it is real, but if it is, it is amazing, and am trying to find out where it is. Any clues? maxres-ope...c2932e.jpg 
Karin Morris 5 years ago (edited)
You missed some of the most beautiful artwork in the world all based in Reno NV that comes directly from Burning Man. Here's a link to just a few. https://www.visitrenotahoe.com/things-to-do/arts-and-culture/burning-man-art/?asset=2571-ig-18008207347122915
David Gallagher 9 years ago
Zoggolopoulos' Umbrellas in Greece is also pretty neat. DSC09134-5...7de1b8.jpg
Linda de Sosa 5 years ago
The little gnomes all over Wroclaw, Poland. The black cat house in riga, Latvia. The horses in the Thames in London.
Fj Bs 5 years ago
Than you so much , all pic are very nice , Centro de negocios de MIramar , la Habana Cuba ( Bisness district ) miramar-el...ac8f3d.jpg
Maggy Graham 5 years ago
Wonderful. But I have found a photo of another sculpture, and don't know if it is real, but if it is, it is amazing, and am trying to find out where it is. Any clues? maxres-ope...c2932e.jpg
Karin Morris 5 years ago (edited)
You missed some of the most beautiful artwork in the world all based in Reno NV that comes directly from Burning Man. Here's a link to just a few. https://www.visitrenotahoe.com/things-to-do/arts-and-culture/burning-man-art/?asset=2571-ig-18008207347122915
You May Like 41 Of The Most Famous Statues In The World 40 Famous Paintings That Changed Art Forever And Cost A Fortune Doing It 50 Times People Showed Off Their Awesome Craft Projects Online And Made Everyone Jealous
Žydrūnė Trukanavičiūtė
Viktorija Strelciunaite
Aurelija Rakauskaitė
Related on Bored Panda
