Bengaluru, India, is home to more statues than any other city in the world.
But when three urban researchers and an artist set out to discover the city's 700 statues last year, they weren't expecting to find so many.
"We never expected to find more than 250-300 statues, but we ended up spotting 700, which was surprising," says Ravi Kashi, who was part of the project.
Researchers Salila Vanka and Madhuri Rao say the statues represent the city's shift from being an IT hub to a cultural and political hub, per the Times of India.
"Public statues and sculptures in a city are static markers of urban culture and development.
They are also dynamic symbols of local (and national) identity and power struggles," the researchers say in a statement.
They found most of the statues were erected in the 1990s by well-known artists, though some were created by amateurs.
The team also discovered hundreds of statues of popular actors, including Vishnuvardhan (also known as Dr. Rajkumar) and Kittur Rani Chennamma, a warrior queen.
"The fans would just want a statue or a bust of their favorite actor to be installed somewhere without any creative additions," says Kashi.
The team, which held an exhibition last
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