I really do not know where my obsession with little garden gnomes came from…it may have stemmed from the Icelandic folklore of the Christmas Elves (my grandmother was Icelandic and these elves are scattered around our house at Christmas time), the fact that one randomly showed up on my parent's front porch one day or if the garden gnomes from Harry Potter sparked this fascination. Whatever the case, I think gnome statues are the cutest! Little did I know Worclaw, Poland would be the perfect place to come to get my gnome fascination fix.
Gnome statues are all over the city center, almost 80 in fact. They are a symbol that now reflects the political instability during the era of communism in Poland. During the 1980's the Orange Alternative Movement started in Worclaw as a response to oppose the communist regime. Basically when the communist regime would repaint over a anti-government slogan an Orange Alternative artist would paint a graffiti gnomes over the freshly painted wall. The gnome became the symbol of this movement and in 2001 the first modern gnome was placed to near the city center.
I had to much fun today walking around and taking pictures of these little fellows!
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