Vulcan Park, Birmingham, AL


Vulcan Park in Birmingham, Alabama hosts one of the largest statues in the world. The Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue and considered a memorable work of Civic Art for the United States. The design was by Guiseppe Moretti, an Italian. He created the statue from iron that was produced locally in 1904. However, the statue was not placed in its current location until the 1930's. The statue has since seen repair because it began to tarnish. In fact by 1999 it was looking quite desolate. A 10 acre park was created around the 1904 statue. The Vulcan Park Foundation in 1999 removed the statue from its pedestal to renovate it. It took $15.5 million to restore the local symbol to the park. The park is also now called the Vulcan Park and Museum due to restoration of it as well.

As the largest statue in the world it stands at 56 feet tall and is made of 100,000 pounds of iron. It stands on Red Mountain looking out at Birmingham. The pedestal is what makes the statue stand so high, as it is a towering structure in itself. To visit this towering statue one can go to the Vulcan Park Grounds between 7am and 10pm. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 1-6pm. The Vulcan Observation Balcony is open Monday through Saturday 10am to 10pm, and Sunday 1pm to 10pm. Also onsite is a gift shop which is open the same amount of hours as the park and other buildings.

Evening admission is $3 plus tax for the grounds and observation balcony. This fee starts at 6pm daily. Regular admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $4 for children 5 to 12. Children under 4 are free. There are group rates in place with a $1 discount for groups of ten or more. The park has ten top things to do while visiting.

This includes getting a close up look at the statue. The towering pedestal allows visitors to get up close to it. There are a number of stairs up to the 124' pedestal which children enjoy counting to see just how many there really are. Another option for visitors is to picnic at the overlook in order to see Birmingham and enjoy the forest around them.

It is also possible to have one's picture taken with the life size replica of Vulcan's Foot. Visitors are able to light the green torch that the Vulcan has in his hand. Also on the list of things to do is gaining historical information about the statue and the restoration. The Linn Henley Gallery shows all of this information.

For children and groups there is a Scavenger Hunt that comes with admission. Visitors are encouraged to follow the clues to learn about the site and its various values to the area. The gift shop has a giant stone map in which visitors can find where they live, and even leave their mark if they wish.

Review, comment, or add new information about this topic:

Discuss Birmingham, Alabama (AL) on our hugely popular Alabama forum.


City-data.com does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of any information on this site.  Use at your own risk.
Some parts © 2024 Advameg, Inc.