Krasnale |
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25 July 2025 - Wrocław
Years ago, when I first came to Wrocław, Iwona showed me one of the brass gnomes - krasnale in Polish - and explained how the first one had been created by an artist during Soviet occupation as a protest. It was fun to see them randomly around the city making various statements, both political and silly. I started an album of pictures of them. The past few years have seen an explosion of gnomes and now it seems they're mostly commercial. A website set up to help locate them lists nearly a thousand. There's one with a wok and a hat that says "Thai Thai" outside a restaurant of the same name. There's one holding up a diamond ring outside a jeweler. Outside a chocolate shop there's one with a box of chocolates. Outside the waterpark there's one on an intertube. Next to an ATM there's a pair leaning up against an ATM advertising it's open 24 hours. There's even a begging UNICEF gnome with a QR code next to him to donate! I really wonder if this proliferation will continue or if the city will tire of it. I still find myself waiting in line for pictures of some of the gnomes though. Maybe someone will create a gnome on waterskis jumping a shark...
