In Europe, one can get a neckache from looking up at all the ancient castles, churches and houses. Remember to look down however, especially in the Silesian city of Wrocław. It has many of the features of Poland’s other big cities (a massive market square, mediaeval cloth and town halls and grand old churches), but a second town can be found at the level of our shins, populated by dwarves!
So that’s where all the money goes…
These little fellows can trace their origins to the Orange Alternative (Pomarańczowa Alternatywa) movement which started in the city. It lampooned the communist regime through pranks that included the drawing of pictures of dwarves where anti-establishment graffiti had been whitewashed.
Communism in Poland is history now and almost all the drawings have disappeared, but the first bronze Wroclaw dwarves were installed in 2001 to commemorate the movement. They number more than 300 now, and there is even a devoted website and a map of their locations.
The first dwarf sculpture in Wroclaw, where ul. Świdnicka and Kazimierza Wielkiego meet. The Orange Alternative often held events on this square.
An entire day could be spent looking for all of them! Not all of them are easy to find even with the help of the map; some try to get closer to (human) eye-level…
This was the first dwarf that I spotted, outside the Raclawice Panorama.
…while others wait to catch the unwary out.
Can anyone translate the sign?
At a dwarf’s eye level, everything appears a lot bigger and significant. Bricks and steps seem like walls and cliffs, and little cobblestone chips that we trample underfoot become dangerous obstacles.
Don’t lose your balance, charmer
Vroom!
The variety of ways that they are depicted is immense, and so are the photo opportunities. Some just want your attention.
Won’t you help a brother out?
While others go about their daily business in their miniature world, which seems to have all the amenities of the human-sized city around them. A stranger told me the dwarves come alive when people are asleep, like in Toy Story. I find it easier to believe that it happens when people are wasted.
Business time
Some of them mirror the activities that take place on the same street, like these busking dwarves. I don’t know if they sound as good as the young violinists who played Bach behind me as I took this photograph.
I thought they could use a bottle cap.
A few Wroclaw dwarves cross the divide to help out with human activities. (Maybe it’s actually slavery, but we need an investigation)
Heave, ho!
Sadly, their efforts are not always appreciated or reciprocated. Vratislavians seldom take a second look at them, while stupid tourists like myself are happy to simply take photographs in awkward positions. For the extra cheer that they bring to this colourful city, perhaps they deserve a little more?
Give us a hand, won’t yah?
22/10/2014 @ 6:16 PM
I think that’s very common. I mean in my case, passing by this Chinese temple is like a routine for me but for people not from here or tourists, it’s like a must go to place or see for them. It’s weird. What’s common for me is something else for someone. And I think it works the same way if I’m the Tourist in some place else.
23/10/2014 @ 10:29 AM
True – it’s interesting to look at familiar scenes through the eyes of a visitor sometimes, and they can make some astute observations.
03/05/2015 @ 4:36 PM
Interesting. Wroclaw somehow never came to my mind, when I visited Poland. Thought only about Warsaw and krakow.. Looking at your pics, feel like I missed out..
10/05/2015 @ 4:21 PM
Next time, buddy, though your current trip is already very impressive!