Vienna, Austria: The Goethe Monument

There wasn't much that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe didn't do in his life. He wrote plays, poems and novels. He was a scientist and statesman, a theater director and a critic. Goethe might just be the most important author in the German language. 

He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1749. He studied the law and wound up working for the government, but the writing kept calling him. Since all of his work needs 143 volumes to complete the collection, you'd have to say he was prolific. Johann was best known for the book Faust, which is certainly one of the classics of German literature.

The statue went up in 1900, after some fundraising by the Vienna Goethe Association. The Emperor supposedly even gave some money to the cause. Goethe sits at one end of a street named after him. Less than 200 meters away is a statue of another German poet, Friedrich Schiller. They were pals.