Columns surmounted by statues.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

Verb (used with object) : to surmount a hill. ,to surmount tremendous difficulties. ,a statue surmounting a pillar. ,to surmount a tower with a spire.    From Dictionary.com. 

For every old Egyptian king had a long list of names and titles, and among them a name surmounted by the picture of a hawk.    From Wordnik.com.  [Scientific American Supplement, No. 1178, June 25, 1898] Reference

It was the tomb of a noble lady, her name surmounted by the carving of a grinning skull-very like the one beneath the Dutchwoman's apron.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Breath of Snow and Ashes]

At seven that evening she made a similar formal entrance into the capital of Würtemberg, passing under an arch of triumph bearing her name surmounted by an Imperial crown.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Court of the Empress Josephine] Reference

The light was shining on a pile of gold coins surmounted by three tooled bracelets.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Dragons of Chaos]

Companies that surmounted these problems succeeded.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Next Capitalism] Reference

He assured me that these obstacles were easily surmounted.    From Wordnik.com.  [Outside Voices] Reference

These are an indication of misfortune surmounted with courage.    From Wordnik.com.  [Telling Fortunes By Tea Leaves] Reference

Problems could be surmounted with the proper strategy and tactics.    From Wordnik.com.  [How Our American Dream Unraveled] Reference

Mr. Huxley recognizes this as an objection that can not be surmounted.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume 1, January, 1880] Reference

Between the windows, two pedestals, surmounted by busts of Mademoiselle.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

Suddenly, between two stone pillars surmounted by lions, appeared the closed gate.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

He was a big man, with a good-humoured, ugly face, surmounted by curly black hair.    From Wordnik.com.  [Grey Town An Australian Story] Reference

A clock in the shape of a pyramid, surmounted on a sphere, ticks under a glass case.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

The door of the room at the entrance is also surmounted by a frontispiece and columns of.    From Wordnik.com.  [The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851] Reference

Here he was halted by a low bulge, which he might have surmounted had his feet been free.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories] Reference

There is never any obstacle in this world that cannot be surmounted by some means or other.    From Wordnik.com.  [British Airships, Past, Present, and Future] Reference

A false front as black as jet, surmounted by a cap with poppy-colored ribbons, framed her face.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

Another group, still more wonderful, forms a curious natural Gothic arch, surmounted by pinnacles.    From Wordnik.com.  [Wonders of Creation] Reference

The future sounds promising for fuel cell cars, but there are still lots of hurdles to be surmounted.    From Wordnik.com.  [Consumers sign-up to drive fuel-cell cars for free] Reference

The canopy terminates at the top in a Gothic spire, rising in three stages and surmounted by a cross.    From Wordnik.com.  [Shepp's Photographs of the World] Reference

The walls of the fort are very massive and are surmounted at each of the four corners by a round watch tower.    From Wordnik.com.  [Wanderings in the Orient] Reference

Suddenly this curtain was noiselessly raised, and the young Marquise appeared, her brow surmounted by her coronet.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

A little bird surmounted by a coronet, the whole rather badly sketched, was the strange talisman that had produced this change.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

Windfalls also lay around in all directions, and no sooner would he have fairly surmounted one of them, than another would appear.    From Wordnik.com.  [Lost in the Fog] Reference

The basic units are squares: squares building on squares to make a vast cube 90 feet long and surmounted by the hemisphere of the dome.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Minaret Over Manhattan] Reference

They were following the stone parapet surmounted by a hedge of boxwood, which entirely hides the ugliness of the buildings on the quay.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

Gazing down I saw two feet clad in monstrous shoes surmounted by a vividly checked ensemble that appeared to have been made for a giant.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Case Of The Limehouse Golem] Reference

The material is sandstone, and it is surmounted by a Quadriga of Victory from copper, taken to Paris by Napoleon in 1807, but restored in.    From Wordnik.com.  [Shepp's Photographs of the World] Reference

The entrance door-ways became the central architectural features, and are often richly carved and moulded, with pilasters surmounted with.    From Wordnik.com.  [Lippincott's Magazine, November 1885] Reference

The papers were arranged in a number of cupboards surmounted by the arms of the various Grand Chancellors who had presided in that office.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886] Reference

Mæcenas bought, and there he laid out a garden and erected a lofty house surmounted by a tower commanding a view of the city and vicinity.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic] Reference

Mr. Winner used his earnings to establish a corporate headquarters in downtown Sharon surmounted by six-foot pink neon letters spelling out WINNER.    From Wordnik.com.  [Salesman Steered Car Owners to the Club] Reference

They would help to preserve the relationship until new administrations take office in Washington and Taipei and China's leaders have surmounted their current difficulties.    From Wordnik.com.  [Reviving The Grand Bargain] Reference

In 1801, in his first giving of "information," Jefferson told Congress that recent "wars and troubles" were largely surmounted, so taxes could be cut and government pruned.    From Wordnik.com.  ['Rhetorical Presidency'] Reference