Cleveland hosts a variety of activities to do and place to see. Top of the list is the world’s largest stamp. The Free Stamp is an outdoor sculpture located in Willard Park. Created by Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen, it has been called the “world’s largest rubber stamp”. The sculpture is massive approximately 28 feet long, 26 feet wide and 49 feet tall. The installation of the Free Stamp was not without controversy. The sculpture was initially commissioned to be placed in front of the BP America Building in downtown Cleveland. However, the BP executives were not pleased with the design, considering it too unconventional and not representative of their corporate image. This led to a legal battle over the sculpture’s placement.
Due to the dispute, the Free Stamp was temporarily placed in a storage yard in Indiana in 1991, where it remained for several years. In 1999, the city of Cleveland and BP reached an agreement to relocate the Free Stamp to its current location in Willard Park, near Cleveland City Hall. This agreement allowed the sculpture to find a new home where it could be appreciated by the public. Stop by and take a selfie. All the cool kids are doing it. 🙂
Location. 601 Lakeside Ave E, Cleveland, OH 44114