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Bremen Town Musicians

Riga, Latvia

Three legendary musicians play their music on Skārņu Street between St. Peter's Church and the Convent Yard: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a cockerel standing on each other's backs. You can see surprise in the animals' eyes, but they are not staring at the robbers' feast; they are peering through the Iron Curtain!

The political monument "Bremen Town Musicians" was created by Bremen artist Krista Baumgaertel. The sculpture is based on a fairy tail by the Brothers Grimm, but created with a political subtext as it was inspired by Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika. The sculpture, a gift from Riga's sister city Bremen, was made in 1990. It's a humorous approach towards previous political stereotypes. The bronze figures are not staring through the window at the robbers' feast at a table full of drinks and food; they are peering through the Iron Curtain on a completely new world where they had thought to find a bone or a piece of meat. Come see the musicians - an ironic view at sudden independence.

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