The Spirit of Detroit is the city's unofficial symbol: a 26-foot, eight-and-a-half-ton bronze figure sitting cross-legged in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Woodward Avenue. Marshall Fredericks sculpted it in 1958 — the largest cast bronze statue in the world at the time. The figure holds a gilt sphere with rays in one hand (representing God) and a family group in the other.
It is the city's go-to backdrop for championship celebrations: when the Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings, or Lions win something big, the statue gets a giant team jersey. A free, central, ten-minute stop.