The naked man may not be woowoo strange, but I'd say it was strange if it happened in my neighborhood!
Also, I'm not sure why it would be painted or coated with what appears to be anti-corrosion primer of the sort used for metal objects.
Could the monument be made of friable stone, and the paint an attempt to keep it from eroding away more?
Then again, it looks like only the faces/heads have eroded—maybe the faces/heads have been shot at by bored locals. (?)
Also has anyone noticed how much your perception of an area changes from the first time you see it to when you've become familiar with them?
It might have to do with how much new information your brain has to deal with at once. When I was first on my own as an adult, and facing many new experiences at once, this happened to me a lot. But if new places had similarities to other places I already knew, then it was easier to retain a fuller sense of the new place. For example, if the architectural style or interior materials were similar to those of buildings I was already familiar with, it was easier for me to retain an internalized diagram of a new place, including positions of doors, windows and pillars.
Brian development probably plays a part, too: when I was a teenager and roaming around my hometown, I knew different areas like puzzle pieces that weren't connected. Over time I slowly put most of the pieces together. This amazes me now, because I've gone to many, many other cities for the first time since then and haven't had that much trouble putting together an internalized map of wherever it is I am. Then again, I've had actual maps to refer to in those new places, so maybe that's all there is to that. I still find walking indispensable to really nailing it though.
Wow, this is a long post!