Zwergerlgarten - Postscript

Dayle was asking if the stone Dwarfs were life size. Yes they are - here's a photo of Laurent who stands almost 6 feet with the little guy with the shovel.

And Dora has a point about them becoming progressively more endearing - though I didn't plan it that way. As I mentioned they are on a tower of land surrounded by a moat and reached by a wooden bridge and they're arranged around the parameter of the circle. And that's how I photographed them. It would have been interesting to see how they were originally arranged but nothing seems to have survived indicating placement within the garden.

Strangely I came across this badly damaged wee chappie standing on a balustrade overlooking the beautiful Giardino Guisti in Verona. His dress would suggest a slightly later period than those in Salzburg. Also it suggests this sort of garden statuary was popular in many parts of Europe.

22 maggio - Santa Rita di Casia

Zwergerlgarten X

This is the final dwarf and one of my favorite's. Dressed in cravat and gaiters, his glasses firmly in place he sticks his tongue out! Perhaps a fitting response to world that has viewed him as less than what he is.

22 maggio - Santa Rita di Casia

Zwergerlgarten IX

This little guy has a rather wistful look on his face. I'm not sure if he is an innkeeper or a servant but that pot looks like its heavy.
Perhaps this lady (the second of the two) is the innkeeper's wife; notice she's wearing the traditional Tirol bodice - you still see them on the streets of Salzburg today.

21 maggio - Santa Giulia

Zwergerlgarten VIII

The stone suds in this fellow's stein seems to have got into his luxurious moustache.
And this little chap has a basketful of fruit to offer - and again the almost comedia costuming suggests he's a member of a theatre troupe.

20 maggio - San Bernadino di Siena

Zwergerlgarten VII

This hairy chested fellow is taking a break and resting on his spade. A gardener? A construction worker? A grave digger?


Another vendor, this time its poultry. He has what appears to be a live chicken firmly in his grasp.

19 maggio - San Pietro Celestine

Zwergerlgarten VI

This fellow is wearing a variation of a commedia dell'arte costume - he may well have been a member of the Prince-Archbishop's theatre troupe.


The sack of vegetables would suggest this chap is a door-to-door vendor - though again his costume has overtones of the commedia dell'arte. And again it appears he originally held something in his hand.

18 maggio - Santi Trinità

Zwergerlgarten V

This chappy with the turban and the big sweeping moustache is obviously meant to be a Turk. Like many of the statues he has lost an arm somewhere over the years.

17 maggio - San Pascal Bayon

Zwergerlgarten IV

For some reason this chap is wearing a basket on his head. The position of his hands and some strategically place holes suggest at one time he was holding something between them.

16 maggio - San Brendan

Zwergerlgarten III

I find this weather beaten Woodsman one of the more disturbing of these grotesque figures. The hardship of his life and trade seem etched into the stone.

15 maggio - San Giovanni-Batiste di LaSalle

Zwergerlgarten II

This is one of only two female statues in the restored group - though there may have been more amongst the missing figures. She appears to be a fruit seller dressed in local peasant costume and offering a pomegranate - a symbol of welcome and prosperity.

14 maggio - San Pachomius