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Gaza (CNN) -- When Jwdat Abu Ghrb spotted a dark shape last summer in the waters off Gaza, where he was diving for fish, he initially thought it was a corpse. "I was afraid," he told CNN. "I put on my goggles, dove underneath and still couldn't tell what it was. I resurfaced and got some help from other people and family members and came back, and after full four hours of trying we managed to get it out of the water and I was shocked by what I found." It was a life-size bronze statue, believed to be a...

300 students have signed a petition to have the creepy, yet lifelike statue removed. In part, the petition reads; "This highly realistic sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space." The Boston Globe reports the piece is called "Sleepwalker," it was put up to...

who created Nelson Mandela memorial included a RABBIT inside his earA 30ft sculpture of Nelson Mandela has angered South African officials as the sculptors left a ‘signature’ on the artwork – a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears. The bronze memorial, which was unveiled outside the government complex in Pretoria, after Mandela’s funeral on December 16, is billed as the largest statue of the South African leader in the world. Officials demand that the miniature rabbit is to be removed from the statue, claiming it mocks Mandela and his life’s work. The department of arts and culture...

<p>Lightning has broken a finger off the right hand of Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.</p> <p>Father Omar, rector of the shrine that holds the statue, told the Globo radio station that lightning frequently strikes the nearly 100-foot tall statue, a symbol of Rio that overlooks the Brazilian city from the peak of the Corcovado mountain.</p>

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Organizers say a newly dedicated statue in Seoul honoring Korean women forced into sexual slavery during World War II is "an alarm bell" for future generations. "The Girl Statue for Peace" is outside the Geoje Arts Center, Yonhap news agency reported Friday. The statue in the coastal city 300 miles south of Seoul shows a young woman standing next to an empty chair.

Lightning has broken a finger off the right hand of Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Father Omar, rector of the shrine that holds the statue, told the Globo radio station that lightning frequently strikes the nearly 100-foot tall statue, a symbol of Rio that overlooks the Brazilian city from the peak of the Corcovado mountain. Its right hand had been damaged sometime ago, but the finger finally broke off in a storm late Thursday.

A black granite head of an unidentified New Kingdom king's statue has been uncovered in Luxor The Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission unearthed on Thursday a large granite head of a statue of an unidentified New Kingdom king during routine excavation at King Thutmose III’s funerary temple on Luxor’s west bank. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Section at the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA), explained that the head is 29.6cm high, 24.3cm wide and 26.9cm deep. The head depicts a round face of a royal figure, not identified yet, wearing a wig, with traces of a broken nose,...

A Christian Arab is working on his plan to build a statue of Jesus in Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus which is now dominated by Arab Muslim citizens of Israel. It will be, he says, larger than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. "Slowly, but surely, the Christian identity in Nazareth is beginning to disappear," said Bishara Shlayan, a Christian merchant seaman from Nazareth who has come up with the plan, according to Fox News. Shlayan told The Jerusalem Post he is raising funds for the project from both Israeli Arab Christians and Jews....

KIEV, Ukraine — Protesters in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, toppled the city’s main statue of Lenin on Sunday and then pounded it into chips with a sledgehammer as a crowd chanted and cheered. The destruction of the statue was a cathartic moment in the biggest day of demonstrations so far against President Viktor F. Yanukovich’s turn away from Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians filled the streets of Kiev on Sunday, first to hear speeches and music and then to fan out and erect barricades in the district where government institutions have their headquarters. Carrying blue-and-yellow Ukrainian and European...

WASHINGTON – The leader of a Christian organization that had a Ten Commandments display vandalized has offered to not press charges against the unknown perpetrators. The Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith And Action, announced Tuesday afternoon at a press conference that he would not file charges provided the perpetrators agree to meet with him. "If you will come forward and confess your crime we will not press charges or pursue prosecution against you," said Schenck.............. Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-leader-offers-to-not-press-charges-against-vandals-who-toppled-decalogue-display-105240/#LltkOgW5F5lH4adY.99

Vandals set fire to a life-size statue of Ronald Reagan at a Southern California sports park that bears the name of the 40th president, authorities reported Monday.

Vandals torched a bronze, life-size statue of Ronald Reagan in an apparent arson fire in a Southern California sports park named after the 40th president, The Press-Enterprise reported.

The following are photos taken on Friday, September 20, 2013 at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park in Temecula, California. The Reagan statue and monument was likely vandalized either the night before or in the early morning hours of Friday September 20. The cause of the damage appears to be vandalism by arson. Local police were called to the scene and an investigation is ongoing. - Photo of the Reagan Monument with missing damaged tiles. - The missing/vandalized tiles were removed by city staff ... notice the burn marks at the base of the structure. - Burned/damaged tiles on both side...

NEW YORK -- Employees of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones, a New York Mets affiliate, arrived at work Wednesday morning to find a swastika and racial and anti-Semitic epithets painted on a statue of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese that is on display outside MCU Park. ... "This is being treated as a bias crime," detective John Nevandro of the 60th precinct said in a statement. "Hate Crimes will investigate the incident."

The latest state-of-the-art color 3D printing technology is used to bring your digital sculpture back into the real world. Voxel by voxel, layer by layer, the three-dimensional portrait grows into the (almost) final product as if by magic.

The U.S. Park Police in Washington say the Lincoln Memorial has been temporarily closed after someone splattered a splash of green paint on the statue.

Curators at the U.K.’s Manchester Museum were a bit perturbed when they noticed an ancient Egyptian statue changing position over time without any employees claiming to have moved it. So, they set up a camera to capture what might be happening. What they saw was just as unnerving. When viewing the footage taken over a week in time-lapse, they saw the statue of Neb-Sanu, which is only 11 inches tall, turning around on its own.

PAULDEN, Ariz.,- An Arizona artist said county officials have ordered him to cover up or remove a metal statue of a gargoyle he created that features male genitalia. David Smith said he spent years creating the 9-foot-tall metal statue he is displaying in his Paulden yard and he disagrees with Yavapai County Development Services Director Steve Mauk's statements that the artwork isn't compatible with the neighborhood, KTVK-TV, Phoenix, reported Thursday. "What in this neighborhood fits in anywhere? You look around and everybody's individual and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting art work," Smith said. He said the gargoyle's...

She has kept a lonely vigil over New York Harbor with no visitors except for a few workers since Hurricane Sandy. But last week, federal officials announced the Statue of Liberty would again welcome guests by July 4. Although Lady Liberty wasn’t hurt in the storm — give credit to Gustave Eiffel for the skeletal design that can withstand hurricane-force winds — Sandy’s tidal surge destroyed the docks, the energy infrastructure and tore up sections of the walkways. Nearly three-quarters of the island was underwater. Damage was also done to the welcoming and departure station in Liberty State Park in...

More than half a century after she refused to give up her seat on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks has an immovable place in the U.S. Capitol — the first black woman to be honored with a statue there. President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both parties said at an unveiling Wednesday that the depiction was fitting: Parks is shown seated, hands clasped in front of her, eyes fixed forward.