Although not unique to Seattle, Hammering Man, the 48ft-high metal sculpture that guards the entrance to the Seattle Art Museum on the corner of 1st Ave and University St, has become something of a city icon since it was raised in 1992.
The sculpture, whose moving motor-powered arm silently hammers four times per minute, 364 days a year (he has Labor Day in September off), is supposed to represent the worker in all of us. It was conceived by Jonathan Borofsky, an American artist from Boston, who has designed similar hammering men for various other cities. There are taller and heavier models in Frankfurt, Germany, and Seoul, South Korea.
