The Gnomes of Wroclaw are hiding everywhere at ground level in the CBD, it takes a sharp eye to spot them and the Operator has the jump on Rosie who cannot take her eyes off the beautiful skyline of this city.
These little fellows pop up in the most unexpected places and just put a smile on your face with the crazy antics they get up to. All in all there are supposedly 300 gnomes of which you can purchase a map, or even go on a guided tour, if you want to see every single one……
Rosie and The Operator are just happy to stumble over them as we wander around, considering we only saw about 50, we didn’t do too good a job in locating them!
A group called The Orange Revolution started inserting the gnomes into the landscape of the city as a light hearted protest against communism and a snub to the austere, dark, no fun times of the early eighties that communism represented, and, it just took off from there. More and more were added over the decades and many represent current events of the time or are a mascot/marketing tool for the stores they are placed in front of.
For example, you are more likely to buy an ice cream from the shop with the gnome eating an ice cream perched on the windowsill outside it.
Charities also featurenomes….hence the three disabled gnomes which are outside the Wroclaw Without Barriers headquarters. Other gnomes, like the gnome climbing the water fountain and the tourist gnome are positioned to indicate services available to the public.
The gnomes are a fun quirk of this beautiful city and are still putting smiles on faces of young and old alike today.
No body leaves Wroclaw with out at least a half dozen gnome photos on their camera roll. In true kiwi style, Rosie did try to uplift a gnome or two. Wroclaw well and truly has that problem sorted. Every gnome is VERY well anchored to their spots. Rosie had to settle for a gnome fridge magnet souvenir to take home instead. Great fun memories of this awesome town!
Tomorrow we drive to Krakow, we are excited to explore this city and will venture out on day trips from here to visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp and also the ancient Salt Mines.
