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

Salzburger Zeitung - Der Zwerglgarten

Back in 1715 Prince Archbishop Franz Anton Harrach wasn’t terribly big into political correctness when he had the Zwergerlgarten (Dwarf Garden) built in the gardens of Schloss Mirabell. Dwarfs were a source of amusement and kept in large households for their entertainment value. Many of the Salzburg stone dwarfs were modeled on real members of the Archbishop’s retinue; others were simply caricatures of peasants and foreigners.

Of the original 28 grotesques only 15 are still there and they have been moved to a high tower-like patch of grass surrounded by a moat. In the spirit of Baroque political incorrectness I’ve decided to post a Dwarf a Day; hopefully that will not offend as I am thinking of them more an example’s of an anonymous stonemason’s craft.



Since the garden was restored in 1928 these two have been guarding the drawbridge crossing while waiting to play what appears to be a rather dangerous ball game – notice the Mad Max padding.

13 maggio - San Giovanni il silenzioso