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Ilona Baliūnaitė

54 Public Monuments That Became Famous For All The Wrong Reasons

envato (Person) Northwestern Mutual

Public spaces are, well, public, and whether we’re talking about the streets we walk on, the buildings we live in, or the monuments standing between them, the very least we’re entitled to is having opinions. However, people might have a different vision of what belongs where.

What an architect or artist might think is a bold statement can sometimes feel excessive and out of place to others. So we went around a few popular discussions on r/AskTheWorld where folks have been sharing the structures in their countries they hate the most, and here are some of the most talked-about “bad ideas” locals just can’t stop complaining about.

#1 USA

We have a “ballroom”

If we look at what experts are saying about the topic, there’s a recent survey that gives a good sense of how people in the field see things.

The survey, The State of Public Space in 2025, invited a wide community of public‑space professionals — planners, designers, place managers, public officials, artists, researchers, activists — to share their views, with over 700 respondents from 57 countries contributing their insights.

The biggest takeaway, according to the researchers, was that only 5% of respondents felt that public spaces are actually meeting community needs.

#2 Scotland

Glasgow tower. The world's tallest, fully rotating tower. £10m. Doesn't work. Never open. Sometimes goes on fire.

#3 United Kingdom

The Headington Shark, Oxford

It was installed by local radio DJ Bill Heine. He installed it without planning permission and there was 20 year war of letters. Now the council has recognised it as a local landmark.

Nearly 12% of respondents identified “aging infrastructure” as one of the top issues facing public space. When we talk about aging infrastructure, we often think of roads and bridges first, but public spaces are part of our civic infrastructure too — the shared places that support community health, resilience, and local economies.

Because of that, public spaces need funding models that provide steady, reliable support over time, rather than big bursts of money followed by long dry spells.

#4 France

Behold!

#5 Canada

This building in Vancouver is my personal vote. It just looks to me like an extra heavy gust of wind would knock it over...

#6 Czechia

Thanks I hate it

And the term “models” is used because aging infrastructure and underperforming public spaces aren’t only about money. After funding for capital improvements and operations, respondents cited political will and bureaucracy as the biggest practical issues facing public space, together accounting for a striking 31% of responses.

On top of that, mental health crises, biohazards, maintenance problems, reduced access, and fear of crime — whether supported by data or not — have become an increasingly common and troubling part of many public areas. As a result, 12% of respondents pointed to homelessness as one of the top issues facing public spaces today.

#7 Netherlands

Supposed to be santa claus.

#8 West Java

Our beloved

#9 Finland

A town elected to build a fountain for 10k, this was the result. After coruption discussions it achived meme status and people travel to see how small it is

Much like social isolation, extreme weather has created a vicious cycle for public spaces that needs to be broken. As hotter summers, polar vortex events, and growing risks of fires, storms, and floods hit cities around the world, public spaces become less accessible and less comfortable, feeding into what some call the Human Doom Loop.

However, while international respondents to the survey ranked climate change as their second‑highest priority at 12%, American public‑space professionals placed it much lower — sixth overall, at only 8%.

#10 Norway

This nightmare fuel.

#11 Spain

Restoration of Ecce Homo

#12 Australia

Actual-Associate-808:

That's actually pretty awesome.

Then there’s gentrification, which 11% of respondents listed as a major concern, mostly because it leads to displacement. Since public spaces have such a strong impact on quality of life, even well‑intended improvements can set off ripple effects in real estate and local demographics. These changes can support a community, but they can also disrupt it — both economically and culturally.

Existing residents may get priced out as the cost of living rises, but just as important is the fading sense of belonging that comes with shifting cultural offerings and new social dynamics, including hostile behavior like targeted noise complaints.

So while it’s easy to blame individual structures for harming our public spaces, it’s usually the bigger picture we need to look at first.

#13 Norway

11,5 meter tall ... in Stange, paid for with taxpayer money of course.

#14 Brazil

The Marge Simpson building

#15 Spain

Roundabout of the Peacocks, Jaén.

#16 Russia

Shemyakin's Peter the Great statue. The proportions are like he's from a yaoi manga

#17 Brazil

On São Paulo’s Faria Lima Avenue, often called the Brazilian equivalent of Wall Street, a large office building installed a quirky whale sculpture on its façade.

This Christmas, they topped it with a festive hat that ended up looking a bit suspicious.

#18 India

This fish building from hyderabad

#19 Finland

This. Was over 100t euros. It's supposed to shoot a red beam to the sky and glow in Red when it's dark, but it never really does, or that I have seen.

#20 Hungary

Treetop Walk without trees.

#21 USA

A 516ft/157m wide emoji

#22 USA

There is a gilded fiberglass statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest off Highway 65 in Tennessee, just south of Nashville

#23 Goiania

O punhetão, aka, the wankerer, in goiania.

#24 Lithuania

I present to you this beautiful art installation in the capital of Lithuania.

#25 USA

How about the Boll Weevil Monument in Alabama? Yes that is a sculpture of a woman holding a traffic cone with a boll weevil on top. Why would they have a monument of a bug that eats cotton?

#26 Canada

Crowds will gather around this “historic landmark” to hear to it whistle *BOOOOOO booooooo* while a lil steam comes out the top. Vancouver’s top tourist attraction, apparently.

#27 USA

This monstrosity

#28 India

We recently erected this 70 ft statue of Lionel Messi
It was unveiled during his 3 day tour to India on which $36 million were reportedly spent.

Meanwhile, our national football team continues to suffer from a lack of public support, infrastructure and funds due to corruption.

#29 Canada

My hometown Niagara Falls is full of this stuff. Exhibit A, Frankenstein eating Burger King

#30 Poland

For my city (Szczecin) that would be removed now Fryga statue.

#31 USA

This Statue of Lenin displayed on a prominent streetcorner in the Freemont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.

It's on private property and is held in a private trust, so the city government lacks authority to remove it. And it's become a landmark in the Freemont neighborhood.

The statue was originally put on display in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1988--but was soon trashed during the wave of de-Leninization in Eastern Europe (the "Velvet Revolution").

A U.S. English teacher came across this Lenin statue in a scrapyard in Slovakia, with a homeless person living inside of it. He purchased the statue and shipped it to the USA in 1993. It moved around a bit, but has been in its current Freemont location since 1996.

#32 Argentina

The egg monument in Buenos Aires. It has another name and symbolism, but nobody cares, it is an egg. Like the cloud gate in Chicago that is the bean (and the bean is amazing. Not the cloud gate)

The funny thing is that I'm always thinking what could happen if it rolls downhill the street. I think that almost everyone is going to check it and push it a little bit.

#33 Estonia

Our war of independence victory column. I don't know how people feel about it these days but it was widely panned when it was built in 2009 because of how hideous it looks up close. It also kept falling apart and needed constant repairs.

#34 Canada

The big nickel in Sudbury.

#35 Poland

Wrocław has something similar to Dublin.
Iglica is a communist monument for Poland regaining control over the formerly German “Recovered Territories”, built in 1948.

#36 USA

In the Southeastern US, we have the ugly Confederate monument on Stone Mountain in Georgia.

#37 Germany

Behold

#38 Genova

Roundabout of the tuna.

#39 USA

This monstrosity in Long Island City in Queens NY.

#40 USA

Sterling Heights, Michigan snuck a $335,000 "sculpture" past the taxpayers a few years ago, and they immediately started calling it the "Golden Hole".

#41 USA

Boston’s “embrace” installed in 2022

#42 Ireland

iykyk.

#43 Canada

My city has a lot of weird local art, nothing famous nationally though.

#44 Canada

This stupid ring in Montreal that used 5 million dollars of tax payer money.

#45 Canada

I hate this one SO much...

#46 USA

This is the Buffalo City Court: Buffalo, New York.

#47 India

This thing. The most useless expenditure of money in a third world country.

#48 France

Idk about the worst, but this residential bar in my hometown always trips me out. Looks like the architect just unlocked the washing machine skin and really wanted to use it.

#49 Mexico

La Estela de Luz in Mexico City. Also known as "la Suavicrema" after a type of wafer cookie popular here, This aberration is 104 meters tall.

#50 USA

"cloudgate" aka the chicago bean, by anish kapoor

#51 England

I was going to say the Bude tunnel, but as I look at it, it's magnificence truly is striking.

#52 Canada

This electronic art installation in a TTC subway station. As far as I’m aware, it’s still not activated, eight years after the station opened.

#53 Republic Of Korea

Since people are posting statues of people they dislike even if they look fine on the basis of what they represent, here's my entry.

Thankfully, we destroyed it. It's gone now.