Underwater Sculptures, Artificial Reefs

Coral reefs are the Rainforests of the sea. The average reef is a live ecosystem which provides a home to almost 25 percent of all marine species, while the reefs themselves occupy less than 0.1 percent of the ocean surface.

These small yet vital life-sources are under grave threat from climate change, blast fishing, and other environmentally harmful practices. This is why groups of artists from Mexico to Indonesia are gathering together to help recreate the world’s coral reefs. The artists created statues mostly out of cement and sand, which, due their low pH levels, facilitate the natural growth of corals.
 
There are also other creative ways to build artificial reefs, and dumping old metal subway cars into the ocean is one of them. Yes, you heard that right. Beautifying our waters by, not only thinking outside of the ‘box’, but also by using the ‘box’. In actual fact, between 2001 to 2010 the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) dropped 2,580 cars into the Atlantic Ocean, off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, to become artificial reefs. How ingenious. You can on Here see for yourselves how New York City’s subway cars are upcycled while playing the essential role of the reefs.

The featured artwork seen above is titled “Banker” by Jason deCaires Taylor, which is part of the Musea Subacuatico de Arte (MUSA) located in the waters of Cancun.
 Enjoy the rest of this stunning collection of artificial reefs.

Christ of the Abyss in the Florida Keys

One of 400 life-size sculptures created by artist
Jason deCaires Taylor for the “The Silent Evolution” exhibit in
The Marine National Park of Cancun

Vicissitudes in 2011 in the Moilinere Bay Sculpture
Park, Grenada

Sculpture of a woman covered in coral by Roberto
Diaz Abraham in the MUSA Cancun underwater park

Christ of the Abyss completely covered

The Vicissitudes in the Moilinere Bay Sculpture Park,
Grenada following installation in 2007. The statue is a ring of
26 children which are molded in order to represent different ethnic
backgrounds once again by underwater artist Jason deCaires Taylor

Nine-foot tall bronze statue of “Amphitrite” by Simon Morris in the
Cayman Islands. Amphitrite was the wife of Poseidon, Lord of the Seas
and Queen of the Ocean in Greek mythology

Statue of a man curled up on a Volkswagen Beetle by deCaires Taylor.
This structure is home to thousands of crustaceans and lobsters while
serving as a refuge and breeding grounds for fish

Part of “The Silent Evolution” exhibit by deCaires Taylor at MUSA

Underwater Buddha statue in Bali

The gates to the Neptune Society Memorial Reef in Key Biscayne,
Florida where there is an underwater memorial site that was inspired
by the Lost City of Atlantis which serves as a cemetery for those who want
to be buried under the sea

A sunken Moai at Easter Island in the South Pacific. This statue was
originally constructed for a 1994 Hollywood film, but once it sunk to the
sea bottom it became a home for thousands of creatures

“Lion” is one of many statues which are part of the
Neptune Society Memorial Reef in Key Biscayne, Florida

Another statue from the Cancun exhibit nearly completely
covered with growing coral

A life-sized sculpture of a woman silently screaming
by deCaires Taylor

“Interia” by deCaires Taylor in MUSA

“The Lost Correspondent” by Jason deCaires Taylor in
the waters of Grenada

Nature taking its course and creating stunning coral reefs from the statues

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Rare Historical Photos # 5

Hitler's Office

Michelangelo illustrated his grocery lists so that his illiterate servants would
know what to buy him

New yorkers on their way to work, reading about the death of John Kennedy, 1963

Alfred Hitchcock serving tea to Leo the famous lion that roars in the beginning
of every MGM movie, 1957

The famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Cleveland Williams, 1966

Jacky Kennedy-Onassis watching her husband John Kennedy debating
Richard Nixon, 1960

A bar in New York the night before prohibition starts, 1920

Orwell Wright, one of the famous brothers, flying for 9 minutes and 45 seconds to set a new record, 1911

106 year-old Armenian woman defending her home with an AK-47

Robert F. Kennedy sleeping on the floor of the plane during election campaign, 1968

Red army soldiers standing watch for planes, 1917

German girls in a massive folk dance during a Nazi party convention, 1938

Players of the baseball team 'Chicago Cubs' with their mascot, 1908

Salvador Dali caught on a fish eye camera as he signs books for fans, 1963

The last 4 couples left of a dance marathon in Chicago, 1930

Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein debating over quantum mechanics, 1925

John Young and Charles Duke training for the Apollo 16 mission in the New Mexico desert

Policemen inspect a lumber truck that smelled of alcohol during prohibition, 1926

Pre-Taliban days in Afghanistan when women enjoyed professional careers, university
education. By mid-90s, the Taliban outlawed employment and education of women over
the age of 8.

Queen Elizabeth during her WWII service

Russian soldiers preparing for a gas attack against German positions, 1916

Samuel Reshevsky, age 8, defeating several chess masters at once in France, 1920

Star Wars set at lunchtime

Testing a bulletproof vest, 1923

The Cologne cathedral amidst the ruins, 1944

The assembly line of Porsche 911s at the Stuttgart factory, 1970

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the nuclear bomb over Hiroshima


A salesman has his motorized roller skates refueled at a gas station, 1961

The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, 1937

The evacuation of Saigon, in which some 45 UH-1 Huey's and one CH-47 Chinook
were pushed overboard to make room for others to land, 1975

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Rare Historical Photos # 1

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Rare Historical Photos # 10 — Women's Special Edition

Rare Historical Photos # 11

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Early 1900s Paris in Colours

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Rare Behind the Scenes