Video: Why are there so many gnomes on the streets of Wroclaw and what does politics have to do with it?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The Polish city of Wroclaw is very ancient. It is cozy and picturesque, full of attractions, architectural monuments and many interesting historical events are associated with it. But this city has one more zest. Moreover, it is very unusual and charming. Wroclaw is full of gnomes. They can be found everywhere here and they are all different. Figures of little people appeared on city streets about 20 years ago, and this story began even earlier …
Dwarfs (the Poles call them krasnoludky) "settled" in the city for a reason. There are many legends associated with them in Wroclaw. For example, there is a story about the very first little man, whose name was Papa-gnome - they say, the progenitor of all gnomes appeared on this earth. Or that the gnomes once saved the inhabitants of Wroclaw from the mythical inhabitant of the Odra River, on which the city is located. They say that this character constantly harmed the inhabitants, and the gnomes caught him and put him in a dungeon. Apparently, this was exactly what the opposition political group took advantage of, but first things first.
It all started back in the years when Poland was a socialist country and in its cities red flags and images of political leaders could be found. As you know, not everyone in Poland shared the ideas of socialism. In the early 1980s, an underground opposition group headed by the writer and artist Woldemar Fiedrich, the Orange Alternative, began to operate in Wroclaw.
The members of this group saw resistance against the regime not in violence, but in pickets, strikes and all kinds of shocking actions. For example, in protest, they began to paint gnomes on the walls of houses and other surfaces in the city. If the police painted an anti-communist slogan on the wall of a building, the next morning a funny gnome would appear on top of this paint.
On June 1, 1987, the Orange Alternative organized a kind of parade in the city, during which sweets and orange hats were handed out to all passers-by. And when the law enforcement officers tried to detain people in "gnomish" hats, instead of resisting, they began to show with all their appearance that they themselves were ready to surrender. On top of that, the protesters began throwing candy at the guardians of the law. The detention turned into a comedy, and the action itself received a great response, arousing complete delight among the townspeople and their support.
So Wroclaw began to be considered the city of the dwarves. True, the first figurine appeared here only 14 years later. On widnicka Street, where the very action with caps and sweets took place, the Pope Dwarf was installed in memory of the Orange Alternative (by Olaf Brzeski).
In 2005, another sculptor, Tomáš Moček, at the request of the local authorities, made several more funny figurines out of bronze. They were installed on different streets in the city center. And then the gnomes began to breed here at great speed. Now there are more than three hundred of them in Wroclaw.
Since the gnomes are sometimes stolen, in 2016 the authorities supplied the most popular of them with GPS beacons. And if some of the many gnomes manage to steal (people steal them "for memory"), new ones immediately appear on the streets. Their installation is sponsored by all kinds of commercial companies and individuals.
All gnomes are different and have their own history. Many of them are part of a funny plot. For example, the little men with the telling name Sisyphus, installed on Svidnitskaya Street, are trying in vain to roll a huge granite ball, but since each one pushes in his direction, it does not budge.
And the gnome Glutton, who can be seen in the market square, is depicted lying on his back - he is so full that he can no longer get up, falling asleep right in the plate.
In Wroclaw there is a gnome-prisoner, and a gnome-motorcyclist, and a gnome-programmer, and a gnome-professor. And then there is Sonya - the guard guarding the underground fairytale city. This funny sentry fell asleep right at his post.
In the souvenir shops of Wroclaw, you can always find figures of gnomes, key rings, T-shirts and other goods with their image, as well as maps and booklets, which indicate exactly where tourists can find small sculptures.
On all gnomes, as on many bronze sculptures of the world, you can see light scuffs, because, of course, every passer-by strives to stroke a tiny funny little man. There are also those who make a wish at the same time, because each of us wants to believe in a fairy tale.
By the way, Wroclaw is in the top The most colorful cities in the world.
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