“Atlas the baleful; he knows the depths of all the seas, and he, no other, guards (or holds) the tall pillars that keep the sky and earth apart.”
—Odyssey, by Homer

The Atlas sculpture at Rockefeller Center is one of those pieces that’s been photographed thousands, if not tens of thousands, of times. It is a collaboration between Lee Lawrie, who designed the figure, and Rene Chambellan, who brought the statue to life. The bronze figure, at 45-feet tall and seven tons, is sculpted in the Art Deco style with exaggerated muscles and stylized facial features.

Atlas was a half-man, half-god giant in Greek mythology who led the Titans in a war against the Olympian gods. After the Titans’ defeat, Zeus devised a punishment for their leader: Atlas was to carry the heavens upon his shoulders for perpetuity. The circular object that Atlas holds above him in the statue is not the earth but the sky. In addition, since Atlas was the titan of astronomy and instructed mankind on how to use the stars to navigate; the statue itself can also be used as a sort of compass: the North-South axis of the sphere on Atlas’ shoulders points towards the North Star as seen from New York City.