See if you can spot the diminutive statue of a resting dwarf at ground level, just to the west of the Hansel and Gretel houses off Wrocław's main square. A few metres away you’ll spot firemen dwarves, rushing to put out a blaze. These figures are part of a collection of over 300 scattered through the city. Though whimsical, they’re also a reference to the symbol of the Orange Alternative , a communist-era dissident group that used ridicule as a weapon.
They’re sometimes identified in English as gnomes, as the Polish folkloric character they're based on (the leprechaun-like krasnoludek ) resembles a cross between a dwarf and a gnome. Buy a 'dwarf map' (6zł) from the tourist office and go dwarf-spotting.
