You might want to think again before you snap a selfie with one of these controversial statues
10 of the Most Controversial Statues and Monuments Around the World
Updated on Jul. 15, 2025
Mount Rushmore, Black Hills, South Dakota
Mount Rushmore was designed by Gutzon Borglum, an individual who eventually developed a relationship with the Ku Klux Klan (Borglum was also the artist initially approached to design Stone Mountain, which you’ll read more about below). Mount Rushmore is located on sacred Sioux land that was forcibly seized, along with the forced eviction of the Sioux people; the mountain was originally known as Six Grandfathers, named after ancestral Lakota Sioux spirits.
While designing the project, Borglum chose to depict four notable white men who he felt were “instrumental in expanding and preserving the boundaries of America”: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. Recognizing that the land had been taken illegally from the Sioux tribe in the 1800s, the Supreme Court offered the price of the land in 1980, plus interest, but the offer was refused by the Sioux.
Stone Mountain, Atlanta, Georgia
The massive figures carved into granite rock on Stone Mountain, just outside Atlanta, Georgia, are Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States of America, alongside Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Before he took to designing and sculpting Mount Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum was hired to build a “shrine to the South” at Stone Mountain, featuring Lee and Jackson.
He was later fired from the project, but that didn’t stop another artist, Henry Augustus Lukeman, from continuing with plans to memorialize the Confederate generals. Stone Mountain has long been considered a crucial location for the Ku Klux Klan, who held their cross burnings there in 1915 during what they considered their “modern rebirth.”
Nelson’s Column, London
In Trafalgar Square in London, Nelson’s Column was constructed to honor Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He is a hero among the British for defeating French leader Napoleon Bonaparte and ensuring that Napoleon would not invade Britain. Still, Nelson was also a huge supporter of the slave trade and was what would now be known as a white supremacist.
Christopher Columbus statue, New York City
Christopher Columbus has notably become a more controversial figure in recent years, as he has been incorrectly credited with “discovering” America in 1492. A number of cities and states in the United States have swapped out their yearly Columbus Day celebrations to instead commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Native American Day, honoring the people who have been here all along.
Captain James Cook statue, Sydney, Australia
The statue of Captain James Cook in Sydney, Australia’s Hyde Park carries an inscription that claims Cook “discovered” the land. Similar to the outrage over Christopher Columbus, the recognition of Cook as the “discoverer” of Australia ignores thousands of years of indigenous Australian history.
Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo, Japan
Located in Tokyo, Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine was built in 1869 to honor those who dedicated their lives to their country. Included among the almost 2.5 million names inscribed on the structure are those of both citizens who died for their country and war criminals, including a general directly responsible for the bombing at Pearl Harbor, a general who called for combat that resulted in a 1937 massacre and the deaths of 200,000 citizens, and the originators of Japan’s alliance with Germany and Italy during World War II.
Valley of the Fallen, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain
Valley of the Fallen was one of the most controversial statues in Spain. The monument was initially erected to honor those who died during the Spanish Civil War, but it’s also where the grave of General Francisco Franco was originally located. As a former dictator of the country, he rose to power with the aid of both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and went on to rule Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975.
Franco was buried at the Valley of the Fallen, and in the following years, many Spaniards considered the monument a glorification of Franco’s four-decade-long dictatorship rather than honoring the many who gave their lives during the Spanish Civil War. His grave there had even become something of a shrine for the far right, further tarnishing the original intent of the monument.
In 2019, Spain’s socialist government upheld a promise to move Franco’s remains. His grave was exhumed and his remains moved to a cemetery in Madrid.
Don Juan de Oñate statue, Alcalde, New Mexico
This statue in Alcalde, New Mexico, was constructed to pay homage to the man who established communities in the Upper Rio Grande area, but many see it as praising a brutal ruler who almost exterminated the Acoma Pueblo people. Juan de Oñate was a Spanish conquistador given permission in 1598 to colonize land that is now known as New Mexico.
Oñate and his men carried out many atrocities that resulted in the deaths of more than 800 people—he even ordered the amputation of the right foot of at least 24 captive men. The statue (and others like it around the region) is no stranger to protests, and in June 2020, demonstrations turned violent as protestors tried to tear down the monument. Following this, the statue was removed “temporarily” for its own protection.
Brown Dog Statue, London
This monument in London has gone through a couple of iterations. To start, the original monument was erected in memory of the little brown dog at the heart of the 1903 Brown Dog Affair, in which allegations of animal abuse were leveraged against a medical professor at University College London for operating on the live dog in the name of research. The first statue that went up featured a depiction of the pup along with an inscription detailing the abuse and calling out University College London by name.
Violent riots between medical students at the college and other universities (who argued that the dog had been anesthetized and that no laws had actually been broken) and socialists, suffragists and anti-vivisectionists (those opposed to operations on live animals for the sake of research) resulted in the statue’s removal in 1910.
But 75 years later, with a still-active anti-vivisectionist movement afoot, a new statue was erected with the same inscription that caused the original riots, while also praising continued efforts to advocate for animal rights.
Joseph Stalin statues, former Soviet Union
Many statues of Joseph Stalin, the former dictator of the Soviet Union, remain standing. Stalin was known to eliminate anyone in the Soviet Union whom he considered to be disloyal, and he sent millions of his own people to forced labor camps. These controversial statues show no signs of disappearing, and in fact, a new one was erected at a Metro Station in Moscow in May 2025.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
