Bull on Manhattan
“Charging Bull,” or “Wall Street Bull,” is a monument that vies with the Statue of Liberty itself for the title of New York City’s most famous landmark. The bronze bull stands next to the world’s main financial street and symbolizes the aggressive strategy of financial market traders who play for a rise.
The bull was cast and installed at the expense of the monument’s creator, architect Arturo Di Modica, and is one of the most prominent examples of street art. According to Di Modica, he conceived his “Charging Bull” after the economic crisis of 1987, when the energetic and aggressive animal was meant to symbolize the strength of the American people.
Today, the “Wall Street Bull” is popular not only among Americans. It is especially beloved by Chinese and Indian tourists. The former because the sculptor installed a copy of the bull in Shanghai, but the original is always more interesting. The latter come to see the monument because it appears in the famous Indian film “Kal Ho Naa Ho.” Traders say the bull brings financial luck if you hold its horns.
Juliet in Verona
The symbol of Verona – a bronze statue of Juliet from Shakespeare’s famous play – is installed near the house of the young girl where, according to legend, the events of the most famous love story took place.
The ancient house did indeed once belong to the Dal Capello family, who became the prototype for the Capulet family. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city authorities bought the building to create a museum. But the statue of Juliet by local sculptor Nereo Costantini appeared near it in 1972.
Tourists come in an endless stream to Juliet’s house and the statue nearby. The monument promises to bring you luck and happiness in love. For some reason, you need to hold the right breast of the unfortunate girl. This year it was discovered that the bronze bust of Juliet had worn down to a crack from frequent touching, and a fracture had formed on her right arm. Therefore, the city authorities decided to install a copy of the monument near the house and send the original to the museum. Whether this will reduce the effectiveness of the superstition is unknown.
Sculptures at Ploshchad Revolyutsii Station in the Moscow Metro
Revolutionary sailors, workers, athletes, and other citizens of a bygone era symbolized the power of the Soviet people at the Ploshchad Revolyutsii station on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line, turning into a kind of new pagan idols.
The station was designed by architect Alexey Dushkin, author of “Detsky Mir” on Lubyanka and Stalin’s skyscrapers, and its sculptures were created by the famous monumentalist Matvey Manizer. He created 76 bronze statues of ordinary Soviet people – rural workers, factory laborers, Red Army soldiers, pioneers. And almost every one has some kind of superstition attached.
For example, students rub the nose of the bronze dog near the border guard statue: they believe it’s a sure way to pass their exams with flying colors. Romantic young ladies rub the slipper of the bronze student girl – they await happy love. Superstitious scientists (if there are any) rub the pencil of the young inventor in hopes of inventing something. And anyone can touch the sailor’s signal flag: it simply brings good luck.
You can also sprinkle grain on the hen, rub the rooster, touch the peasant in bast shoes, or stroke the sportswoman’s chest. Some people touch, and sometimes even pocket the sailor’s revolver – all for luck and well-being in different areas of life.
Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg
The chizhik nicknamed Pyzhik became famous thanks to a well-known song. And the monument to him, only 11 cm tall, was created by director, screenwriter, and sculptor Rezo Gabriadze.
They say that the Imperial School of Jurisprudence students were nicknamed chizhiks-pyzhiks for the yellow cuffs on their green coats and their pyzhik hats. The school was located on the Fontanka, and there students, of course, also drank vodka. That’s why the famous St. Petersburg writer Andrei Bitov proposed installing a monument to the chizhik on the embankment of the river.
Despite its modest size, the monument became popular among St. Petersburg residents and tourists. Local legend has it that to make a wish come true, you need to throw a coin and land it on the chizhik-pyzhik’s pedestal. This is not easy: the coins keep falling into the Fontanka (by the way, enterprising boys dive for them). Newlyweds have started their own tradition here: they lower a shot glass of vodka on a string to clink glasses with the eternally drunk but happy little bird. For luck.
Monument to Victor Noir in Paris
At the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, there are also monuments associated with superstitions. The most famous is the posthumous bronze cast of the poet and journalist Victor Noir. It is touched to improve one’s sex life.
Strangely enough, Victor Noir’s life and death have nothing to do with it. He was an ordinary poet and publicist, of which there were plenty in Paris in the mid-19th century. However, Noir gained sad fame: he fought a duel with a relative of Napoleon III and died. This stirred a wave of revolutionary sentiment in Paris, and crowds of citizens came to the poet’s funeral.
During the making of the bronze cast of the deceased, a characteristic bulge appeared in the area of the groin. This recognizable anatomical detail impresses many tourists, who rub it so diligently that it simply shines like gold.
Little Boar in Florence
The bronze boar fountain statue in Florence, which locals affectionately call Porcellino (piglet), was made famous by the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen in his fairy tale “The Bronze Boar.”
In the great storyteller’s tale, a boy rode through the city on the revived statue. Today, as in Andersen’s time, the Florentine boar stands in its place – next to the New Market near the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge.
The main job of the piglet is to fulfill wishes. To do this, you need to rub its snout and put a coin on its tongue. The coin must fall through the fountain's grate – then the wish will definitely come true. The boar is also interesting because its copies have appeared in different parts of the world – in Canada and Australia, France and Germany, Denmark and Great Britain. And everywhere the bronze animal diligently fulfills wishes: improves the weather, brings luck, wealth and happiness.
Blarney Stone in Ireland
The Blarney Stone – one of the most famous attractions in Ireland – is not a boulder or a monument, but indeed just a stone embedded in the wall of Blarney Castle.
Scottish king Robert Bruce gave half of the Stone of Scone, on which the kings of Scotland were crowned, to the owner of Blarney Castle, Cormac MacCarthy, for his help in battle. That half is the famous Blarney Stone. According to legend, a descendant of the castle's founder kissed the stone to convince Elizabeth I not to take away his lands.
Today, to acquire the gift of eloquence, you need to kiss the stone in a special way. You have to lean over the parapet and, hanging upside down in front of the stone, give it a convincing kiss. In 2009, the travel website Tripadvisor recognized the Blarney Stone as the most unhygienic attraction in Europe, but that still does not prevent it from being a cult artifact.
The stone became a murder weapon in the Sherlock Holmes radio play "The Adventure of the Blarney Stone" (the victim dies at the stone while trying to kiss it because the killer smeared her shoes with fat), the protagonist of Chuck Palahniuk's book "Fight Club" commits his first act of vandalism by urinating on the stone, and Bart Simpson from the famous animated series even replaced the stone with his own butt painted gray.