I put you on a pedestal, they put you on the pill

[venta]

So, ages ago I invited people to name me the ten most famous statues in the world. From that, we could deduce what the ten most famous statues actually were, and people who got the most right (and got the fewest obscure ones along the way) could feel massively superior

Comments

[drdoug]

One of the things I like about Manneken Pis is how rubbish it is. How can such an ordinary, nondescript statue be so famous? Only in Brussels. Once he's finished wearing a costume, it gets added to a pointless collection in the Musée de la Ville. I think there must be thousands by now. All rubbish, and entirely unworthy of a visit, as is the statue itself. Except you have to go to reassure yourself that it really is that rubbish. I've been several times, and can attest that it is.

[bopeepsheep]

However - if you play Ingress, he's worth visiting several times in the same day! (For those that do, my IGN is the same as here, and you can spot the mission badges very easily. I ran out of time/dry weather to do *all* of them, though.)

[shermarama]

I wonder how much irony there is involved in it, or affection for the very daftness of it, that many people aren't picking up on? I mean, we all know Nelson's Column is famous, but we know it's famous as something tourists come and look at, not something anyone British goes to see - or maybe it's more like cheese rolling, which people do by now just *because* it's a Thing, and one they tried to ban so clearly it should be done just for the sake of it. (I wonder if tourist guides could do with an irony index for things?)

[ylla]

Hey, I've been to see Nelson's column *twice*!
(Once many years ago as a plain tourist from the wilds of the north, when you could still feed the pigeons, once after I actually got interested in Trafalgar and all the Age of Sail stuff :) )

I've been to see the Mannekin Pis too, but I don't remember it being very exciting.

[bopeepsheep]

Oh, since it doesn't seem to have been mentioned, A New England. Bragg not McColl, because of the pronouns. But I still prefer her version!

[venta]

One kudo to you. (It actually was originally the McColl version, then I changed it just before posting.)

[shermarama]

Oooh, who else said Greyfriars Bobby? (And for some reason I now can't imagine why I didn't say Rotterdam's Santa Claus, aka the Buttplug Gnome.)

[venta]

Um, huskyteer, I think!

[zotz]

If anyone can make Bobby non-famous, I'd be quite grateful.

Also, thanks for the Kudo. I haven't had one in ages.

[shermarama]

The Amsterdam equivalent (can't remember if I put it down or not now) would have been the statue of Andre Hazes. He was a bad singer of hideously sentimental songs and even the statue of him is pretty naff, but Amsterdammers do love him.

[stegzy]

I'm surprised nobody else got Dickie Bird or Dickie Lewis for that matter. Perhaps if they were in Belgium they would be better known. Incidentally, someone once told me, so it's probably a lie, that Liverpool has more statues than most other cities in the UK. Dickie Lewis would be proud.

[shermarama]

Just had a weird moment with something statue-related, which I why I mention it here - did you know the Easter Island heads aren't just heads, but have bodies below ground level? It gave me deja vu for having thought 'really? Wow!' the first time I learnt it, but then evidently I forgot again.

[venta]

That sounds like an April fool :) but Wikipedia backs you up, so wow! I did not know that, thanks for sharing it!