Birmingham Attractions: Statue of Vulcan

Standing watch over the city of Birmingham from Red Mountain is the Statue of Vulcan. The Statue of Vulcan is a unique attraction that can only be found in Birmingham, Alabama, and is a piece of history more than a century old. The Statue of Vulcan represents many of the same attributes that gave Birmingham the nickname of the Magic City more than 100 years ago.

Vulcan is the Roman God of Fire and Forge, and even though his roots lie on the other side of the world, the Pagan god maintains a unique connection to the City of Birmingham. From the 1880s through the second half of the 20^th century, Birmingham, Alabama was one of the nation's leading producers of iron and steel. With massive blast furnaces melting raw metal ore and fashioning it into a useful form, it is easy to see why Birmingham's founders related to Vulcan when choosing a symbol to showcase their city.

The City of Birmingham was founded shortly after the end of the American Civil War due to rich deposits of coal and iron ore. When the City learned of the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy that was to be held at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to introduce the City of Birmingham to the Industrialized world. What's more, the city founders were smart enough to think of using a giant Statue of Vulcan, made entirely of cast iron, to let the world know exactly what Birmingham is all about.

Birmingham commissioned the famed Italian-born sculptor, Giuseppe Moretti to create the statue. When they heard that there was a 52 foot tall statue of Buddha in Japan, they instructed Moretti to build the Statue of Vulcan four feet taller. The end result was a 56 foot tall Statue of Vulcan, made entirely of cast iron from the Birmingham mines, holding a spear in his right hand and a hammer in his left.