June 7, 1904

Vulcan, the largest iron figure ever cast, was fully assembled and dedicated in St. Louis. Designed by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti for the 1904 World’s Fair to convey Birmingham’s status as an industrial powerhouse, the statue was 56 feet tall and weighed 60 tons. After being designed in New Jersey, the plaster casts were shipped to Birmingham for casting and molding, then shipped in pieces to St. Louis for final assembly. After the World’s Fair, Vulcan was sent back to Birmingham and eventually was installed on Red Mountain in the 1930s. Major renovations were needed over the years as the statue fell into disrepair. Along with an accompanying history museum, Vulcan today is a top tourist attraction.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Vulcan Statue and Park, 1996. (Richard K. Anderson Jr., Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Giuseppe Moretti (1857-1935) created most of his works in marble, particularly the high-quality marble he found around Sylacauga. But he is perhaps best known in Alabama as the creator of the monumental iron statue of Vulcan, which stands atop Red Mountain in Birmingham. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Birmingham Public Library Archives)

Guiseppe Moretti poses here with a model of his sculpture of Vulcan, commissioned in 1903 by the Commercial Club of Birmingham to represent Alabama at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Birmingham Public Library Archives)

Sculptor Giuseppe Moretti, center, and a group of workmen pose before the lower right leg of the statue of Vulcan in 1904, the year it was displayed at the St. Louis World’s Fair. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)

Colossal iron statue of Vulcan, in the Mines Building, St. Louis World’s Fair, c. 1904. (Underwood & Underwood, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Giuseppe Moretti’s Vulcan statue stands amid other displays in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. It earned silver medals for its creator, Giuseppe Moretti, and iron and steel manufacturers James R. McWane and J. A. MacKnight, who commissioned the monumental sculpture. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of the A.S. Williams III Americana Collection. The University of Alabama Libraries)

This photograph shows how the Vulcan statue looked prior to the 1999-2004 restoration. (Druid85, Wikipedia)

Vulcan statue, Birmingham, 2010. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Vulcan statue, Birmingham, 2010. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.