A host of giant Michael Jackson statues based on his 1995 album ‘HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I’ are still standing in some parts of the world, more than 30 years later.
Up to 10 statues were built around the world to promote the album, including one which floated on a barge down the River Thames at the time.
Hertfordshire-based artist Stephen Pyle, was commissioned to build them and he hired sculptor Derek Howarth to craft the statue in polystyrene sections, which Pyle used to make moulds and fibreglass casts.
They were then assembled in Chris and Liz Clark’s workshop at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, where they were painted to look like stone.
This week is 30 years since Michael Jackson released his album HIStory.
It was promoted with giant statues all around the world.
But what happened to those statues 30 years later? pic.twitter.com/5aeocxm4Jw
— Danny Fullbrook (@Danny_Fullbrook) June 22, 2025
Pyle told BBC News: “Making 10 statues in four months was quite the challenge, but thanks to Derek, Chris, Liz and the rest of my workshop team at the time, we became quite the efficient factory for Michael Jackson monoliths!”
Some are still standing including one in an abandoned courtyard of a nightclub in Austria.
Owner Franz Josef Zika, who won the statue in 1998 at a radio charity auction in aid of the Red Cross, has been trying to sell the statue in Vienna for the past two years.
He told the BBC: I would be happy if I get €25,000 (£21,000) for it. I’ve had some interest from Sweden and some in Hungary, but the problem is people don’t have enough money.”
Another statue also remains standing at a former theme park in Johannesburg, in South Africa and at an amusement park in Italy, despite getting a fresh coat of paint and a new pair of sunglasses in 2019.
The first of nine 32-foot-tall statues of Michael Jackson appeared on June 15th, 1995, in the UK, floating on the River Thames in London. Do you know what other cities played host to the giant-sized Michael as part of the global campaign to promote the HIStory album?#HIStory30 pic.twitter.com/spQNE5fcyw
— Michael Jackson (@michaeljackson) June 13, 2025
But following the airing of the documentary Leaving Neverland that same year, which centred on testimony by Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 41, who alleged that they were sexually abused as children by Jackson, a number of them have since been taken down.
This included one that towered over a McDonald’s car park in the village of Best in the Netherlands and another at an annual fairground event in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Elsewhere, a statue unconnected with the album, which was commissioned by late Fulham FC chairman, Mohammed Al Fayed, after Jackson’s death in June 2009, was also removed from Manchester’s National Football Museum, following the documentary.
Meanwhile, the release of the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic was recently delayed until 2027, with the studio now considering splitting it into two films.
Titled Michael, the movie is set to tell the story of the life and career of Jackson, with the King of Pop to be portrayed by his real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson.
The film has already attracted some criticism, including from Dan Reed – the director of Leaving Neverland – who recently criticised the making of the new biopic, saying it “will glorify a man who raped children”.
