Giant Lionel Messi Statue In Kolkata Facing Dismantling

A massive 21-metre monument of the legendary Argentine football player Lionel Messi is set to be removed from its current site in Kolkata, India. The decision follows critical structural safety concerns that have arisen after the giant monument began visibly shaking and wobbling in the wind. State authorities have confirmed that the towering tribute presents an immediate risk to public safety due to its location over a highly populated urban thoroughfare.

The 38-year-old Inter Miami forward, who led Argentina to World Cup victory in Qatar, had originally inaugurated the golden-coloured fiberglass and steel sculpture last year during his highly publicised visit to India. The structural piece depicts the sporting icon holding the prestigious FIFA World Cup trophy aloft. However, severe operational mismanagement, irregular administrative clearances, and technical construction errors during the player’s tour have now culminated in an emergency order to take the entire installation down.

Technical Deficiencies and Structural Vulnerability

Following detailed and repeated complaints submitted by local residents who observed the 70-foot structure moving precariously, engineers from the Public Works Department of the West Bengal State Government conducted an urgent on-site technical evaluation. The formal engineering audit confirmed that the monument possessed severe structural defects. Experts concluded that the primary stability issues stemmed from the footing of the structure, stating that the monument’s baseline was completely unbalanced and its center of gravity was severely off the mark.

Although the structural sculptor, Monti Paul, initially defended the construction by claiming that the design was intentionally flexible to absorb wind tension and seismic shocks, government engineers rejected this assessment. They determined that the visible swaying caused by moderate breezes posed an unacceptable collapse hazard to the dense traffic passing underneath.

Emergency Safety Measures and Removal Plans

Sharadwat Mukherjee, a West Bengal state legislator, officially verified the structural removal plans on Wednesday, 27 May 2026. He stated that the governmental assessment had definitively marked the monument as entirely unsafe for its urban surroundings. In an effort to temporarily stabilise the towering structure, groups of industrial labourers spent Wednesday climbing the monument to throw thick nylon ropes around its shoulders and torso.

Lawmaker Sharadwat Mukherjee pointed out that the physical process of dismantling the installation will prove to be a complex engineering task. The monument is situated near the Lake Town Clock Tower crossing on VIP Road, directly adjacent to busy metropolitan roads and active subterranean subway lines. While the state administration intends to proceed with the total extraction at the earliest available opportunity, Mukherjee noted that a definitive timeline has not yet been finalised. Furthermore, the West Bengal authorities have not provided any confirmation regarding whether the golden statue will eventually be re-erected or relocated to an alternative public site.