A ROMAN GOD IN ALABAMA: BIRMINGHAM'S VULCAN

Alabama Heritage, Winter 2004 by Hartigan, Karelisa

THE IRON MAN of Birmingham, the world's tallest cast iron statue, has looked over the urban landscape of Alabama's largest city for sixty-four years. Vulcan stands unique in urban art, not only as the largest statue of its kind made in America, but also because no other large American city has a Roman god as its defining symbol. Created as Birmingham's exhibit for the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, the fifty-six-foot statue came home to reside in his own park atop Red Mountain in 1938, where he has become Birmingham's best-loved monument. While some may mock this ancient and rather ungainly figure for his prominence in the city, the very fact of his existence, and now his restoration, is worthy of attention. As the god rises once again above Birmingham, he leads us to review the story of this Southern Vulcan. As one journalist asked, "What is this pagan colossus doing on the virtual buckle of the Bible Belt?"

Vulcan was originally the Roman god of destructive, devouring fire. When Greek deities were assimilated into the Roman pantheon, Vulcan was identified with Hephaestus, and in this guise he represented the creative value of fire, as well as its destructive power. Thus in his more gentle form, Vulcan Mulciber, he became the patron of smiths and other metal workers. This aspect of the god-master craftsman and benefactor of mankind-prompted Birmingham to choose Vulcan as its entry in the 1904 World's Fair. There, the statue would stand in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy to represent the iron and fuel industries of Alabama, then return to Birmingham to show the world the city's civic pride.

The history of the beloved statue offers an epic of his city. In 1903, Birmingham was a center of industry with its iron foundries flourishing. The city wanted to bring recognition to the opportunities it offered and its wealth and industrial ability; the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair presented such a venue. James MacKnight, an enterprising journalist, approached the city's Commercial Club with his vision: a sculpture of iron, the largest in the world, would "attract wide attention to the colossal mineral wealth of Alabama." Since the placement of Frederic Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty (1886), the idea of large statues was popular, with heroic figures being commissioned for public parks and world fairs. The Commercial Club of Birmingham found MacKnight's idea exciting and decided to commission a statue. They determined to build the monument for the same reasons other peoples had erected large statues: "to celebrate an important feature of their society . . . [and here to show their pride in] their booming iron and steel town." They chose to create a monument of Vulcan, the God of the Forge.

Hephaestus was not a glamorous diety. In fact the mythology around him tells of hardship and humiliation. The goddess Hera gave birth by herself to the lame Hephaestus. Hera cast him from Mt. Olympus because of this imperfection. But the world and its gods needed fire, so they restored Hephaestus and gave him Aphrodite as his bride. Although he built his wife a fine home and robots to do the housework, the love-goddess cheated on her less-than-attractive husband at every opportunity. And even when the fire god performed his daily task of serving wine at the divine banquets to the gods on Mt. Olympus, the beautiful and heartless deities laughed as he limped about their table.

Birmingham's Vulcan also faced hardship from his inception. The Commercial Club struggled to find a sculptor and funds for the big iron man in the five months before the fair's opening date. At last Giuseppe Moretti, an Italianborn artist then living in New York and accomplished in iron and bronze casting, accepted the challenge of creating the towering Vulcan for Birmingham.

Moretti did not go to Alabama to make his statue, choosing, instead, to work in Passaic, New Jersey. But newspaper coverage in Alabama and across the nation kept the project on the front page, which fired interest and attracted funding.

The method Moretti used for his cast iron statue was rather like that used by the early Greek artisans in casting bronze. Ancient sculptors had formed bronze statues around clay casts that were braced in earthen pits. Similarly, the 1904 workmen set molds of brick and loam around plaster casts. As with the ancient statues, Vulcan was made in parts and then fastened together. In fact, Moretti did not see his work complete until it was assembled at the fair in St. Louis.

The weight of each part made shipping difficult. Putting him together was even harder. The smallest piece, the chest, weighed eight thousand pounds and the head about fifteen thousand. Assembly began at the feet and progressed slowly from there.

When the World's Fair opened on May 1, 1904, Vulcan was complete only to the knees. Nevertheless he attracted great attention, and when completed for dedication on June 7, Vulcan was truly a marvel, towering up to the roof where his steel spear gleamed. The god garnered first prize at the exhibition, and Birmingham's industries earned national recognition."