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Statue

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A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger. Its primary concern is representational.

The definition of a statue is not always clear-cut; sculptures of a person on a horse, called Equestrian statues, are certainly included, and in many cases, such as a Madonna and Child or a Pietà, a sculpture of two people will also be. A small statue, usually small enough to be picked up, is called a statuette or Figurine.

Many statues are built on commission to commemorate a historical event, or the life of an influential person. Many statues are intended as public art, exhibited outdoors or in public buildings for the edification of passers-by, with a larger magnitude than normal words could ever have for the common man.

On rare occasions, statues themselves become historic and inspire their own historic events. In 1986, when the Statue of Liberty marked her one-hundredth anniversary, a three-day centennial celebration in her honor attracted 12 million. The guest list was unique. "We invited all the great statues of the world to her birthday party and created giant puppets to represent them," said Jeanne Fleming, director of the event. "Each one arrived accompanied by native music."

There is an urban legend concerning a code for mounted statues, whereby the horse's hooves are supposed to indicate how the rider met his end. One hoof off the floor would indicate the rider died of wounds received in battle, or perhaps was just wounded in battle; two hooves off the floor would indicate the rider was killed in battle. An examination of the equestrian statues in most major European cities shows this is not true. If it ever was true, the practice appears to have died out in the 19th century. [http://www.snopes.com/military/statue.htm][http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_074.html]

Statues are amongst the wonders of the world, with the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the Moai of Easter Island among the wonders of the modern world.

Gallery

Image:Lion man photo.jpg|Lion man, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany, now in Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany, the oldest known zoomorphic statuette, Aurignacian era, 30,000 BC-26,000 BC
Image:Venus von Willendorf 01.jpg|Venus of Willendorf, one of the oldest known Statuettes, Upper Paleolithic, 24,000 BC-22,000 BC
File:Oceana statue.jpg|Sculpture of ''Oceana'', a neriad
Image:AurigaDelfi.jpg|The Charioteer of Delphi, 474 BC, Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece
Image:Hermes_di_Prassitele%2C_at_Olimpia%2C_front.jpg|Hermes and the Infant Dionysus by Praxiteles, 4th century BC, Olympia Archaeological Museum, Greece
Image:Venus de Milo Louvre Ma399 n4.jpg|Venus de Milo, c. 130 - 100 BC, Greek, the Louvre
Image:Laocoon Pio-Clementino Inv1059-1064-1067.jpg|''Laocoön and his Sons,'' Greek, (Late Hellenistic), circa 160 BC and 20 BC, White marble, Vatican Museum
Image:AhuTongariki.JPG|''Moai of Easter Island facing inland,'' Ahu Tongariki, c. 1250 - 1500 AD, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s
Image:Kamakura Budda Daibutsu front 1885.jpg|The Great Buddha of Kamakura, c. 1252, Japan
Image:David von Michelangelo.jpg|Michelangelo's ''David'', 1504, Florence, Italy
Image:The.burg.of.calais.london.arp.750pix.jpg|Auguste Rodin, ''The Burghers of Calais'' (1884–c. 1889) in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, England.
Image:Statofliberty.jpg|''The Statue of Liberty,'' New York Harbor, USA, c.1886
Image:Millais statue 3.jpg|Thomas Brock, ''John Everett Millais,'' at Tate Britain 1905
Image:Brasil.RioDeJaneiro.Corcovado.jpg|''Christ the Redeemer,'' Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1931
Image:IwoJimaMemArlington.JPG|U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, located in Arlington, Virginia, 1954
Image:marcus.aurelius.horse.statue.rome.arp.jpg|A closeup of the replica statue of Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, 1981, The original c. 200 AD is in the nearby Capitoline Museum, Rome
Image:Estátua_jk.JPG|Juscelino Kubitschek in Belo Horizonte, c.1981.
Image:TsDKh Moscow Statue1.jpg|Stone statue outside Moscow's New Tretyakov Gallery c.1985.
Image:Estatua.JPG|Statue of a priest in ''Avenida Amazonas'', Belo Horizonte, 1990.
Image:Ushiku Daibutsu 2006.jpg|The Ushiku Daibutsu, Amitabha Buddha, 1995, Japan. The second tallest statue in the world.

statue
Source: Wikipedia