Michael Jackson HIStory Statue in Villan-Södra Utmarken, Sweden

One of ten monumental 33-foot fiberglass Michael Jackson statues commissioned by Sony Music in 1995 to promote the album HIStory has resurfaced in Sweden, per Atlas Obscura. Created as one of the decade's most talked-about publicity campaigns, most of the statues have since been damaged, destroyed, or lost. This particular figure had spent years outside a nightclub in Austria until George Buzatu, a local business owner, purchased and shipped it to Ängelholm, Sweden, arriving this spring. The shipment traveled by truck and ferry through Trelleborg harbor—a journey that happened to be caught on camera by a crew filming the reality series Border Security Sweden. Now permanently displayed at an auto detailing shop, reactions in the town have been mixed. Some residents see it as a playful addition to the townscape, while others have called it artistically hollow and mass-produced. A few have questioned celebrating Jackson given the child sexual abuse allegations that marked his career, though Buzatu notes that Jackson was acquitted at trial and that the statue celebrates the artist's music and legacy.

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