So besides appearing in bits and pieces, human figures have been popular decorations for buildings for centuries.

I love this Mesopotamian mash-up that once stood at the gates of a city (I would be impressed if I saw this when I came to a city). It seems to be a man, some sort of winged creature and an ox? It makes me think something is amiss that all cities don’t have city gates anymore. It would keep out the riff-raff.

This is a modern re-creation of an ancient style, a caryatid, which is “a stone carving of a draped female figure used as a pillar to support a Greek or Greek-style building”. I have no idea why this was originally added to this building, but it now graces a pizza parlor.

This is a pretty standard kind of Baroque decoration with both an angel and putti up near the ceiling. It’s gotten rather dusty up there, but it still adds to the magnificence of the building.

This rather sad looking female form is carved into a decidedly uncomfortable position. She is there to hold up the mantlepiece on a fireplace. Only a man would think that this is a good idea for the decoration of a room.

Yes, we’ve finally come to the representation of an ordinary (well not really ordinary) man. It’s the famous explorer of the South pole, and he’s not really part of the building, he is standing there frozen into a purpose built niche to celebrate his activities. It’s too bad that he is mounted into a wall rather than the city gates as he could also inspire awe at the power of the rulers. (Why did he go to the South Pole? Because.)