The world's ugliest monuments
Spomeniks (former Yugoslavia)
To some, Tito's WWII monuments have an ugly beauty. Others think they're giant alien hairpins.
Courage Monument (Belarus) "Courage" possibly
indicating what it takes to gaze upon this bulging concrete Belarusian
who looks either very angry or just constipated. 
'A Conversation with Oscar Wilde' (London)
Wilde would
presumably have had something witty to say about this well-intended but
hideously executed memorial. Once he'd gotten over the shock.\
African Renaissance Monument, Ouakam, Dakar
"New neolithic."
Sam Hill's Stonehenge (Maryhill, Washington)
You think Stonehenge deserves its status as an iconic ancient relic?
Haven't you noticed the thing's broken -- with tumbled stone columns everywhere -- plus it's in England?
Early in the last century, U.S. railroad magnate Sam Hill came up with a solution.
He built an ideal,
unbroken replica of the neolithic stone circle with slabs of reinforced
concrete on land abutting his Maryhill home in Washington state.
The monument is
dedicated to the dead of World War I, although it's also proved a draw
for local bands shooting Spinal Tap-esque promo videos.
Sadly, in seeking to perfect and modernize Stonehenge, Hill drained it of every drop of its age old, mysterious beauty.
Sam Hill's Stonehenge, Stonehenge Drive, Maryhill, Washington; +1 509 773 3733
Spomeniks (former Yugoslavia)
Commissioned by Yugoslav
dictator Josip Tito in the 1960s and '70s to mark World War II battle
sites, the brutalist concrete sculptures known as spomeniks endure in
often far-flung locations throughout the former country.
Resembling chunks of
demolished Soviet apartment block stuck in a field, the monuments (which
is what "spomenik" means in Serbo-Croation) at least mark a departure
from war memorials of horse-mounted men with fancy hats.
But their actual relevance to the intended military conflict -- or indeed any conflict -- sure gives your brain a workout.
Possessing an ugly
beauty to some, to others they're an oppressive reminder of the violent
breakup of the Yugoslav nation in the 1990s.
Spomeniks are found throughout Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia
"To the struggle against kitsch tributes."
"To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" (Bayonne, New Jersey)
Monuments don't tend to come with store receipts.
That's a problem when they're given as a gift and the recipient finds them in screamingly bad taste.
Grave subject matter
notwithstanding, that was the judgment of many in response to the
weeping brick tower with a crack in it given by Russia to the United
States to commemorate 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Officials found a place for it in a corner of Bayonne, New Jersey.
You'll find a more sober 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York.
"To the Struggle Against World Terrorism," Former Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, New Jersey
Martin Luther King memorial statue (Toledo, Ohio)
Martin Luther King's
contribution to civil rights and equality for African-Americans is
marked across the world, but the sculpture marking his Memorial Bridge
in Toledo, Ohio, really stands out.
For some reason, it
depicts the assassinated religious leader and activist as a kind of
sinister, four-faced entity protruding from a globe.
Looking every gleaming
inch the sort of commemoration any enemy of Superman or Batman would be
proud of, the tripod mounted monument could only be more glaringly
unsuccessful if it revolved and played fairground music.
Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge, Cherry Street, Toledo, Ohio
Like a communist version of rock, paper, scissors.
Monument to the Party's Foundation (Pyongyang, North Korea)
Grace, ambiguity,
transcendence -- all qualities sadly lacking from this North Korean
monument to the foundation of the communist state's Workers' Party.
Rather, with its huge,
encircled mallet, scythe and nibbed pen rendered Lego-like in concrete
bricks, it resembles a crude advertisement for a general goods store
stuck by some lonely Midwestern highway.
Instead of its intended
symbolism of workers, farmers and intellectuals acting in unison, some
have suggested the North Korean sculpture looks like it could represent a
blown-up state communist version of rock, paper, scissors.
Monument to Party Founding, Munsu Street, Pyonyang
Pope John Paul II memorial (Rome)
When signing off on
monument design you'd think a beleaguered Catholic Church would have a
tick list that includes, "Make sure it doesn't look like Mussolini
trying to kidnap a minor."
Unfortunately,
decision-makers in Rome, or at least the statue's builders, missed that
memo and managed to commission a 2011-built memorial to Pope John Paul
II that one critic called "a sin."
A recent reworking has
tweaked the design and minimized the widely remarked upon resemblance to
the Italian fascist dictator, but that gather-ye-all cape remains a
little creepy.
Pope John Paul II memorial, Rome Termini train station, Piazza dei Cinquecento, Rome
Stand on this and rotate.
Neutrality Monument (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan)
There are plenty of monuments to war victories, so to commemorate neutrality gets marks for originality.
And even more marks for
irony when that pacifist stance is symbolized by a gargantuan,
highway-straddling tower with a 12-meter golden statue of a dead
dictator on top.
Originally built as a
70-meter-tall rotating tribute to the late Turkman potentate Saparmurat
Niyazov -- although officially celebrating the country's neutrality --
the monument was relocated from central Ashgabat to the suburbs once a
new ruler came to power.
Now 18 meters higher,
but no longer rotating, this marker of the boundary between flaming
kitsch and sheer ugliness remains outlandish enough to astonish any lost
tourist.
Neutrality Monument, Berzengi, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Michael Jackson tribute statue (Craven Cottage, London)
It would seem hard to do
even more damage to Michael Jackson's original handsome looks than his
plastic surgeons achieved but this tribute to the pop legend appears to
reach that goal
The resemblance to an
only slightly reworked production line mannequin was one error, as
possibly was its strange location at a soccer ground in London.
The reason for the placement?
The multimillionaire owner of the Fulham FC soccer team, Mohamed Al Fayed, commissioned it to commemorate it his "friend."
Some friend.
The statue was removed after Al Fayed sold the club.
Michael Jackson statue, was at Craven Cottage, Stevenage Road, London
