These ten 21-foot-tall statues were built by Spanish artist Mario Armengol for the lobby of Britain’s Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. There, the figures suggested the dominance of man and stood next to what the British suggested were their gifts to the modern world — things like language, governmental systems, law and traditions.
The statue group was purchased at auction by construction company Maxwell Cummings and Sons, who donated it to the Calgary Board of Education. In 1971 they placed them in front of their former downtown Calgary Education Centre and adopted it as their logo. The good people of Calgary were initially shocked by the statues blatant nakedness but have since grown to love them.
The parks department staff, given no guidance of how to arrange the statues, put them in this circular formation, signifying friendship and cooperation.
