Lucifer of Liège: The Devil in the Cathedral

Inside St Paul’s Cathedral in Liège, Belgium, a remarkable marble figure sits beneath the arches of the church. With bat-like wings, chains around his body, and a troubled expression, the sculpture looks unlike the usual images of the devil. He is young, handsome, and almost sorrowful. This unusual figure is Le Génie du Mal, or The Genius of Evil, created by Belgian sculptor Guillaume Geefs in 1848. It is often known as the Lucifer of Liège. The sculpture has an unusual story involving two brothers, a controversial earlier statue, and a religious message about the triumph of virtue over evil. Its beauty is perhaps the most surprising part of all.

Guillaume Geefs’ Le Génie du Mal, the famous Lucifer sculpture inside St Paul’s Cathedral in Liège.

Devils Tower: America's Silent Stone Giant

Drive across the rolling grasslands of northeastern Wyoming, and, at some point, you'll catch sight of it before you're ready — a grey column rising out of nowhere, standing apart from every hill and ridge around it. That's Devils Tower. Pictures never quite capture it — up close, it feels less like part of the scenery and more like something that showed up and refused to leave

The tower seen from the surrounding pine forest

Tear Drop Memorial: Bayonne’s 9/11 Memorial

Along the waterfront of Bayonne, New Jersey, a huge bronze-clad tower rises beside the Hudson River, carrying an enormous stainless-steel teardrop. Known officially as “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism", the monument was created by Russian-Georgian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli as a gift from the Russian people to the United States. It stands in Harbor View Park, facing the New York City skyline, and commemorates victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The Tear Drop Memorial stands on the Bayonne waterfront overlooking New York Harbor.

African Renaissance Monument

The African Renaissance monument, erected on a monolithic stone on the highest peak in Senegal's capital, Dakar, symbolises solidarity and the bright future of African countries after the European colonial period. Designed by Pierre Goudiaby, the monument stands 171 ft high.The museum exhibits sculptures, paintings, and objects that reflect Senegal's cultural structure and brotherhood.. The Senegal monument is the tallest bronze Dakar Senegal Statue in Africa and rises to face the Atlantic Ocean. 

African renaissance monument

Sea Organ

Sea organ in Croatia 'Morske Orgulje', which can be translated as 'majestic organ', was designed in 2005. It is the undisputed star of the city of Zadar in Croatia. It is an incredible show of the sound of waves and wind or natural rhythm. The channels of this sea organ connect with 35 tubes, each one connected in turn to different musical chains. So it produces beach waves music sounds natural. The notes it gives off are purely random, depend on how the waves impart against the organ.

Sea organ

Wallace Monument, Scotland

The National Wallace Monument, also known as the Wallace Monument, is a tower that stands on the Abbey Craig's shoulder. It overlooks Stirling in Scotland. It is dedicated to Sir William Wallace, a hero from the 13th and 14th centuries in Scotland. For an admission fee, the tower is available to the public. With 246 steps leading to the final observation platform. Three exhibition rooms are located within the tower's body. 

The National Wallace Monument

Trevi Fountain Rome

The Trevi Fountain is the most famous and beautiful in Rome. No trip to Rome is complete without a visit to this legendary Rome fountain. It is located in the Quirinal area in central Rome. In fact, the fountain is the prominent façade of the Palazzo Poli. The Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain is one of the 2000 fountains in Rome. Its size is about 50 meters wide and 26 meters high. 

The Trevi fountain

Järnpojke - Little Boy Who Looks At The Moon

Pojke som tittar på månen — The sculpture of the tiny "little boy who looks at the moon" is considered the smallest monument in Sweden. Another name for the small attraction is "Iron Boy" — Järnpojke, Also known by the popular nickname Olle. 

Pojke som tittar på månen

Pyramid of Cestius | Rome, Italy

Cestius pyramid is an Egyptian-style pyramid found in Rome, near Porta San Paolo, and in the cemetery of Protestant city. It was built around 18 and 12 BC. C. as the tomb of Cayo Cestio Epulón, magistrate. Its square base is 100 feet on the side, and it reaches a height of 125 feet. It is covered with marble, although the interior design is made of bricks. On both the east and the west sides are inscriptions in Latin that contain both Cestius' names, as well as architectural details, which for 330 days were completed. 

Pyramid of Cestius

Bibi Ka Maqbara: The Taj Mahal of the Deccan

Standing amid carefully planned gardens in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, Bibi Ka Maqbara is one of the most recognisable Mughal monuments in the Deccan. Its white marble dome, four slender minarets, and symmetrical gardens immediately remind visitors of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Because of this resemblance, the monument is often called the “Taj Mahal of the Deccan” or the “Mini Taj of the Deccan.”

Bibi Ka Maqbara is one of the most famous Mughal monuments in Maharashtra.

Monuments in Selfie mode

Taganrog the beautiful old city, the birthplace of Photographer Anton Chekhov and Faina Ranevskaya. Photographer Anton Bakaryuk present the monuments of his native Taganrog in very different way - Just think, these sculptures were taken their own selfie with  selfie stick - as if they were making self-portraits, which they would later post on social networks. Lets see the monuments in selfie mode.

Parus Rock: The Sail Rock of Russia

On Russia's Black Sea coast, near the resort city of Gelendzhik, a remarkable slab of sandstone rises almost vertically from the shoreline. Known as Parus Rock, or Sail Rock, it looks surprisingly like the sail of a ship standing against the sea. The unusual shape is not the result of human construction. It is a natural rock formation shaped by the long interaction of the coastline, erosion, and differences in the strength of the surrounding rocks.

Parus Rock, also known as Sail Rock, stands dramatically along the Black Sea coast near Praskoveyevka in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.

Northumberlandia, The Lady of the North

The landscape of Cramlington in the English region of Northumberland houses the largest female sculpture in the world.  Known as The Lady of the North , it is, according to its creators, the greatest replica of the female body sculpted on a landscape. Its design, and that of the surrounding parcel called Northumberlandia , are the work of the American Charles Jencks , and the construction was carried out in two years being completed in 2013.

The Dacian king's sculpture | The Highest Rock-Sculpture of Europe

The Dacian king's sculpture — Decebalus, the last king of Dacia (87-106 AD). Dacia, the pre-Roman name for Romania. High relief carving on the wall of a mountain near Orsova in Romania. The tallest 42.9 meters, rock sculpture of Decebalus in Europe. It is the fourth most visited sculpture in the world. Rushmore/Georgia. Buddha-Bamiyan/Afganistan (down in 2001 by Taliban-militant).

Valley of the Saints in the heart of Brittany

The Valley of the Saints is a unique place. It's both a historical site and a land of legends. It also happens to be the birthplace of monumental sculptures. In the Poher landscape, you will find a feudal moat and a chapel from the 16th century. Also, giant statues of Breton saints can be found here.

Kyzyl Center of Asia

Kyzyl, the capital city of the Tuva Republic, Russia. The name of the city means "red" in Tuvan. The geographical center of Asia - the point marking the geographical center of the world's largest region. The title of the geographical center of Asia, claim several places, depending on the method of calculation and conditions - whether includes remote island in the list of the extreme points of Asia, or not. One of the "center" is a place located 20 kilometers east of Kyzyl in the confluence of the Biy-Khem (the Big Yenisey) and Ka-Khem ( the Small Yenisey). The first sightseeing to visit here is the Geographical Centre of Asia. Built in 1964, the monument represents a big globe on which the contours of continents are marked. 

The Eiffel Tower Replica in the Paris of Texas

When we heard the name Paris, our mind start imagine the full frame of  Eiffel Tower. There are fifteen American municipalities named "Paris," but more than a few have chosen to erect Eiffel Tower replicas to pay homage to their French namesake. In 1993 both Paris of Texas and Paris of Tennessee dedicated to make Eiffel Tower replicas. This replica has found itself in a constant height battle with a replica in Paris, Tennessee, which was also completed in 1993. At first, Texas' tower was designed to be five feet taller than Tennessee's, at this moment Tennessee tower took the lead and it was 60 feet tall. But to finish the battle once and for all Paris, Texas added a cowboy hat to their tower, and won the height battle, clocking in at 65 feet. See the last pic of The Replica in Paris of Tennessee.

Georgia Guidestones: The Mystery

The Georgia Guidestones were one of the strangest monuments in the United States. They stood on a hilltop near Elberton, Georgia, made from large blocks of blue-grey granite and covered with messages about humanity, nature, government and the future. Because of their unusual design, they were often called “America’s Stonehenge.”

The Georgia Guidestones once stood near Elberton, Georgia.

Mahabat Maqbara, Junagadh: A Fairy-Tale Mausoleum

Tucked into a busy street in the old quarter of Junagadh, Gujarat, stands a building that seems almost too elaborate for its surroundings. Mahabat Maqbara rises above the city with onion-shaped domes, spiralling minarets, French windows, Gothic columns and richly decorated stonework. At first glance, it can look like something borrowed from a Gothic fairy tale rather than a 19th-century royal mausoleum.

Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park, Berlin

A tribute to 80,000 Red Army soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin 1945. Soviet Architect Yakov Belopolsky’s design was unveiled just four years after World War II ended, and its epic scale and brawny symbolism made it a vast war memorial military cemetery in Berlin's Treptower Park, one of three Soviet memorials built in Berlin after the end of the war.

Photo Credit Leif Hinrichsen