Equestrian Statue of Duke of Wellington, Glasgow
The equestrian Wellington Statue, most often featured with a traffic cone on its head, on Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the city's most iconic images. In 2011 the Lonely Planet guide included the monument to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington in its list of the "top 10 most bizarre monuments on Earth."
Located outside the Gallery of Modern Art and forming an end to Ingram Street the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington by Italian artist Carlo Marochetti, was erected in 1844. Capping the statue with a traffic cone has become a traditional practice in the city, claimed to represent the humour of the local population and believed to date back to the first half of the 1980s, if not before. The statue is a Category-A listed monument, and due to minor damage and the potential for injury that the placing of cones involves, the practice has been discouraged by Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde Police.
