A live dog sits below the sculpted head of a pooch representing the Chinese zodiac sign along part of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, where an installation of work by the artist Ai Weiwei was completed this week. (Photo courtesy of the Rose Kennedy Greenway)
BOSTON (AP) – A dozen giant bronze animal heads representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac are stopping people in their tracks and sparking conversations in downtown Boston.
And that’s exactly what they are intended to do.
The project by contemporary Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei is the latest in a series of outdoor public art projects on the Rose Kennedy Greenway meant to delight, awe and educate.
Lucas Cowan, the mile-long park’s public art curator, says they are replicas of smaller sculptures stolen from an imperial Chinese palace in 1860.
Even as workers put the finishing touches on the exhibit earlier this week, dozens of people stopped to take pictures or just gaze up at the detailed sculptures.
A live dog sits below the sculpted head of a pooch representing the Chinese zodiac sign along part of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, where an installation of work by the artist Ai Weiwei was completed this week. (Photo courtesy of the Rose Kennedy Greenway) 
