I wanted to put another post about Wroclaw because of something a bit quirky about the place – the statues. Throughout the city you will find gnomes, not charming little garden ornaments but put there by the Orange Alternative movement during the 1980s as a protest against the Communist authorities… they pop up at the ends of underpasses and even sitting in corners at restaurants!
There are also some stationary farm animals, signifying that the narrow alley that they stand on was once the street of the butchers, and of course the naked swordsman who stands unashamedly outside the main university building, who it is said was a gambler who lost everything but his sword…
On a slightly darker note are the very politically incorrect slaves that stand above one of the crossroads in the city centre, and on a much darker note the ghostly monument that commerates the execution of Polish soldiers at the hands of their Russian captors. Another set of statues on one of the main road junctions out of the city, the ‘Anonymous Pedestrians’ marks the anniversary of the introduction of marshal law on the night of 13 December 1981 which saw hundreds of citizens dissapear…
And then there are the penguins – I’d love to know what these charming little fellas are all about… any ideas?
From Quirky Wroclaw September 2008 |