The Dwarves of Wrocław
There is a city in Poland called Wrocław that has a delightful and magical presence in its urban landscape—a series of miniature bronze dwarf statues sprinkled throughout the city. They began popping up around the city in the early 2000s and have become a popular tourist attraction and cultural symbol of the city. While they are widely admired today, the history and importance of their origin is lesser known in the modern zeitgeist.
Dwarf Statues in Wrocław
This is a simple reference map showing the locations of miniature bronze dwarf statues in Wrocław, Poland. Data was collected from Natural Earth and layered according to an intellectual hierarchy to highlight the statue points. The map helps tell the story of a popular tourist attraction and cultural symbol of the city. Visualizing how these statues exist in the urban landscape helps the viewer understand their presence in the city.
It is successful in that it provides the reference information on which the rest of the story is based. The viewer is shown the contemporary locations of the miniature bronze dwarf statues in Wrocław that are then needed to explore the historical and foundational elements of their existence. I am only an outsider looking into this phenomenon since I was a guest in Wrocław. But I hope to give justice to the history of the gnomes, and I hope to give the story justice.