Art and architecture in Liverpool

Liverpool is an artsy city, not just because of music: it was declared the Cultural capital of Europe in 2008.

Top left: This building is where the idea for modern day skyscrapers began.  Instead of the weight of the building resting on the concrete external walls, it has an internal metal frame.  This is what allows skyscrapers to be made entirely of glass (because if the weight of the building rested on the glass, we all know what would happen).  People thought it was atrociously ugly at first, but I liked it immediately.  Look at all those bay windows!  My favorite kind of window.

Bottom left: On top of the Liver building, they have fixed two "Liver birds" (long "i") which are the fictional bird the city chose to represent themselves.  Legend is that if the Liver birds ever fly away, Liverpool will crumble.  With that in mind, it is said that the people of Liverpool have tied the birds down to the building, hence the massive cables surrounding the bird in the picture.  (I think it's actually because Liverpool is one of the windiest cities I've ever been to, and they don't want the birds toppling over and killing someone, but whatever floats your boat.)

Bottom middle: Just an old church I thought was really pretty

Right side: A Banksy painting of a biplane leaving a smoke trail in the shape of a heart....and the vandalism of Banky's graffiti: a small rat painting "never liked this banksy."

Being the Philistine that I am, although I enjoy Banksy I enjoyed this statues more.
They mirror the pig statues in Cincinnati in the fact that they are supposed to represent Liverpool and 125 of them were commissioned and painted by local artists and then placed around the city.
They won a competition to find a symbol to represent Liverpool because in the past Liverpool would send out ships to sell sheep to other countries, and then the ships returned with bananas.
Because of this, these statues have the best name ever: Superlambananas.
Not kidding.