The Iron Giant

One of the most overwhelming encounters you’ll have at Expo 2025 in Osaka is with the 17-meter-tall statue of Gundam, one of the famed robots from Japanese anime. It’s huge, but it’s not the only giant that’s ever loomed over an expo.

To symbolize its status as the nation's fourth-largest producer of iron, Alabama forged a 56-foot-tall statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and blacksmithing, for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Erected within the state's exhibit in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, the 60-ton effigy wielded a hammer that weighed 300 pounds. After the expo, the statue was shipped back to Alabama, where the mythical man has since been used for a medley of marketing purposes, with advertisers sticking an ice-cream cone, a Coca-Cola bottle, and even a Heinz pickle in his open hand.