14 Monuments To Remind You How Funny And Strange The World Is

Monuments are supposed to be structures built to commemorate a person or event. But we live in a strange world, so once in a while, we come across monuments that make us stop on our tracks, smile, and ask ourselves” what were they thinking?”

Sometimes, it’s the humor and the strangeness of this world that makes it amazing. We have scoured the remotest places in the world to bring you the 15 funniest and strangest monuments you will ever see.

1. Safety Pin – San Francisco, USA

This huge 21-foot “art” statement stands over a walkway along the De Young Museum sculpture garden.

2. Hanging Statue – Prague, Czech Republic

Built in year 1996 and known as “man hanging out”. What seemed like a man committing suicide actually represents the fall of Communism. Everybody can relax now.

3. The Hanging Rhino – Potsdam, Germany

4. World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet – Vermont, USA

11 metal cabinets, 38 total drawers, welded on top of the other. We call that a monument?

5. Spoonbridge and Cherry, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

A giant spoon is holding a giant cherry. Everyday objects made as public art. Pretty creative. Have I said the cherry stem sprays water too?

6. Sculpture of Baby – Derbyshire, UK

This is an oversized statue of a seven-month-old baby. The artist named it “planet”. Let’s ask him why.

7. Magic Tap – Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

A giant faucet, gliding in the air, with an endless supply of gushing water. The trick is the transparent tube hidden in the stream of water. A smart optical illusion, very clever indeed.

8. Charles La Trobe Monument – Melbourne, Australia

A statue to commemorate Lt. Governor Charles La Trobe. Seemed like an ideal purpose of a monument, except that it is turned upside down. A reminder for us to use our heads.

9. Manneken Pis – Brussels, Belgium

Literally means “peeing boy”. Stories abound about the real inspiration of this statue. The most believable is that it’s a homage to children who urinate on leather to make it flexible. Leather jackets anyone?

10. Fountain of the Virtues – Nuremberg, Germany

Built in the year 1589 by the Germans to demonstrate their stature to the world. Not for the feminists.

11. Monument to Le Tour De France – France

This magnificent 59 feet aluminum and steel structure pays homage to the Tour De France. One lingering question though, why are the cyclists naked?

12. Traffic Light Tree – London, UK

Located in a roundabout in the Canary Wharf area in London, it has 75 blinking lights. Motorists complain of having traffic headaches looking at them.

13. Headington Shark – Oxford, UK

A 25-foot shark crashed head first into the roof of a house. It symbolizes the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. It reminds me though of a scene in “Sharknado”.

14. The Thumb – Paris, France

Created by “renowned” French sculptor Cesar Baldacinni, Le Pouce stands in the middle of La Defense business district in Paris as a gesture of good luck. Thumbs up for that.

These monuments are both weird and funny and should be appreciated and enjoyed. Anyways, life is too short to be regarded seriously. So smile. While you still have those teeth.