Handy in Hungary...

I believe we are heading back to a beloved place of this website this evening. These hands are located at Statue Park, in Budapest, Hungary. Although it appears to have had a rename in recent times to Memento Park. It proudly proclaims to host "The Biggest Statues of the Darkest Dictatorship"!

 

Not sure which dictator's hands are these, but I believe the human hands are those of Jamie H. Some delightful work in replicating the stone ball with a rock! Thanks to other half Katie for posting the photo in Facebook way back in August 2008.

A Lantau Likeness...

Big overdue thanks to Timo this evening for adding this picture to the *insert shameless plug* Facebook group way back in October 2008! This is the Tian Tan Buddha, located on Lantau island, just a short ferry ride from Hong Kong. The Buddha was built facing north to look over and protect China, and it is huge and a fine little daytrip.

 

Very happy to finally feature Timo on these pages, and with the Paralypmics so fresh in the mind (see post one week ago), I have to use this resource to pay my huge respect to his brother Sascha. What are we going to do for four years until further Olympic and Paralympic action? Statues anyone?

A Monday Maxim...

Like I say, we do venture off on little detours occasionally here, it's not all just statues. We begin the week with this little philosophy as portrayed by Bob, brother and fine travel companion, in some temple gardens in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a couple of years back... 

Postbox Pretender...

Here at statue towers, we like to head off on occasional tangents from time to time (such as cardboard cutouts, robots, shrubbery and namesakes), but never before have we featured someone stood by a postbox!

I received this photo way back in August 2008. Massive apologies for the delay to Sam Mugford this time, for this fine photo of him and a postbox somewhere outside Liverpool Street Station...

A Mandeville Mime...

So, I had to get this photo published this evening seeing as 2012 Paralympics are still taking place. This is Mandeville, one of the mascots for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. According to his bio, Mandeville "loves finding out about all sports, having fun and making friends" - sounds like a mighty philosophy to me!

I was hugely fortunate to attend the Paralympic Games over the weekend, an amazing and humbling and inspiring experience...

Follow the Bear...

One of the joys of this site is when lovely folk from around the world send me their statue photos. Here I have to belatedly thank Karen for sending me in this photo waaaay back in September 2008. This bear statue is found in Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, United States. It looks like a pretty cool place what with it being a sculpture garden full of statues!

Anyway, this is Karen's hubby Jack - also known as 'The Bear'. Here he is stood by a bear. It's genius.

My humble apologies Karen for taking so long to post your photo!

Same as Sisavong...

Not really been up to much these past four years ;) Have certainly not got an acceptable quota of statue imitations in that's for sure. Here is one I did manage though, in the amazing town of Luang Prabang in Laos.

This is la statue de Sisavong Vong, loctaed in the grounds of the Royal Palace Museum. Sisavong Vong was the king of Laos for 55 years in the early twentieth century, and here he is depicting the act of bestowing a constitution upon the people, as am I.

Nice to add a second statue to the Laos collection, it's an amazing country. Beerlao, whose website does a far better job at advertising Laos than here, is one of the finest beers out there.

Anyway, nice to be around again. Please send me your photos, and have a good weekend.

A Dryburgh Duplicate...

Has it really been 1,346 days since I last made a blog post?! That's a pretty poor effort. Is there a prize for the worst blogger in the world ever?

First of all, thanks to Mr Poll below for his role in being the front page of this blog for the best part of four years. You're probably getting a bit bored of him now though eh? I think we should move on...

Anyway, some time ago I was dusting through the Adams family archives when I came across this picture of Granny Adams. Although technically not a perfect statue imitation, it's was heartwarming to know that there has been statue interest in the family for a while. Some research has uncovered that she is stood in the gardens of Dryburgh Abbey just south of Edinburgh in Scotland. Good on you Granny Lib!

So, yes, let's continue posting some statues. I don't want to make any bold promises about the frequency, but, y'know, I can say that it won't be another 1,346 days until the next post.

For the unitiated, this website is a dedicated portal to the artform that is statue imitation. We are attempting to post pictures of lovely people imitating a statue in each and every country of the world! So far, down there on your right hand side, you'll see the countries that we've featured so far and the fact that we've made it to a respectable 26% of globl coverage.

Please feel free to send me your statue photos from around the world! They will get published eventually. My email address is also to the right there in the contact me section. There's even a Facebook page. I'm not sure about that Twitter business mind.

I'm really quite excited about the prospect of posting more statues. Below are a few classics from the archives.

 

 Goodbye for now...

Stand By Your Santa

Seasons' Greetings to you all! I've been holding out for just the right time to post this partcular statue y'see. This is St. Nicholas (that's a Mr Santa Claus to most of us) stood outside the church of St. Nicholas in Myra, Turkey. Mr Poll, who has been seen in these parts before, performs most admirable santa duties.

This means we add another country to that list making a grand total of 50 visited in this statue odyssey so far. I'll be the first to admit of been a little poor at updating the site this year, but shall be returning with renewed vigour in the New Year...

Thanks for all the kind words, comments and photos. Have a great festive period and all the best for 2009.

SJ

Chan Chan Man...

Sticking around Peru this evening, Mr Poll managed to entice another travelling companion Richard to produce this fine pose in imitating, I quote, ‘an old bloke thingy’ in the delightfully named Chan Chan museum. The Chan Chan is an archaeological site, with World Heritage status, featuring the remains of a vast mud city built a few years ago between 850 and 1470. One can only imagine how spectacular the city must have been, given the beauty of some of the remains.

An Ornament in Ollantaytambo…

I thought I’d pay a visit to Peru this evening. A friend, who’s been on this site a few times before, Mr Poll, was travelling around the Sacred Valley area of the country over a year ago, and he managed to persuade some of his travelling companions to get in on the statue imitation act. So tonight we pay homage to fellow travelling companion Lorna. I’m sure Mr Poll mentioned this at the time, but just thought I’d let you know that through being posted on this site international fame and fortune will beckon shortly!…

Anyway, Lorna is stood by her statue in the marvellously named Ollantaytambo! At some 2,800 metres above sea level this could well be one of the highest monuments we’ve featured to date. Sadly, the fading light at the time the pic was taken doesn’t quite do the statue justice, but I have a feeling this is what it looks like in daylight. I believe he is an Inca chief of some sort.

It looks like a pretty damn cool place to visit. Indeed, Peru in general would be a pretty damn cool place to visit.

Strumming Statue Stop-off…

I stumbled upon this fine photo when taking a look around the Stand By Your Statue Facebook group earlier on today. It features A Mr David Sachs stood by a weird guitarist fellow at a tuck stop between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel! It’s these types of monuments that would otherwise never be bought to the world’s attention if it wasn’t for this silly site.

(It also means adding another county to the big list over there and updating the stats box, which is probably the most exciting thing I’ve achieved today! Expect a few more new countries to be added during the week)

Victor Avec Vics…

Here’s a fantastic monument of the moustachioed Victor Adler in downtown Vienna, featuring an equally fantastic Pollster on imitation duties, using a Vics nasal inhaler in place of facial hair! Some quality ‘tache work all round.

The Lueger Three …

When you’ve got a half-day to spare in a foreign city, what better way to pass the time than wandering around in search of statues? We found this monument whilst meandering around the centre of Vienna. Up top, it features a Mr Karl Lueger, who was mayor of the city at the turn of the twentieth century. I’m not too sure who the other two chaps are to be honest, although I am guessing they are part of his workforce, as he was famous for creating the public transport system in the city, on which we travelled on to find the statue!

I do love a good spot of teamwork when it comes to statue imitation. This team is yours truly on the right, Pollster on the left and SwissToni in the middle, just two days after he became a married man. Good on you team. I think we’ve done good!

Potosi Poll...

Tonight, I have decided to add to the statue tally of Bolivia! This one features a mini statue of liberty in the city of Potosi, which is claimed to be the highest city in the world. It also features (once again!) a good mate in Mr Wondering Pollstar, who was travelling around South America around a year ago, but is not travelling quite so much currently. Keen statue observers will have already taken note that this is the second consecutive statue imitation we’ve featured using props.

This all conveniently allows me to present to you the latest feature of this website. Oh yes, if you look over on the right hand side, you will eventually stumble across something called the Stats Box. This will keep a running update of the latest country total, alongside a percentage. Wuhoo! Who knows, one of these days I may add some further statue stats for all you stats fans out there…

In other statue news, I have to doff my cap to another superb website about statues. Take a bow
Statues with Sideburns! Another quality collection.

Finally, one last bit of travel news for you. There was disappointment for FusionMan today. But the good news is that he’s going to have another try tomorrow. To Dover and beyond!