Bears - Lions - Water Carrier

In the past six months I have visited Berlin, Munich and, most recently, Hamburg. During my stays I noticed, that on every street corner, there was a model-bear in Berlin, each individually decorated and apparently donated by some firm or another; in Munich there were lion figures everywhere, again all with its own unigue design, and in Hamburg there are masses of statues of a man carrying two buckets of water.

Does anyone know why these sculptures are there? Do they have some kind of identity with their respective cities? Do other cities in Germany have similar collections?

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Hi,

don%26#39;t know about these particular actions but in the last time many cities give the local artists and/or sponsor companies an opportunity to make something out of blank statues which then are distributed over the city for some months. I think it was kicked off by New York and I have seen such in Zürich (cows, 4 years ago) and teddy bears last summer; in Toronto 5 years ago there were plastic moose everywhere; and so I guess Munich, Berlin and Hamburg jumped on the same train. As to the symbols - Hamburg and water, is obvious in a major port city; Berlin%26#39;s coat of arms shows a bear (some think the name Berlin derives from this animal) and in Munich I guess it will be the Bavarian coat-of-arms animal, the lion.

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The town of Riedlingen on the Danube River in Baden-Wuerttemberg has multi-colored, multi-patterned storks distributed throughout the town. These are certainly nicer to view than Hamburg%26#39;s bucket carrying man.

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The lions (in Munich) came after the bears of Berlin.

Buddy Bears - the idea (June 2001)

http://www.buddy-bear.com/en/idee/index.html

Buddy Bears on world tour (since 2002)

www.united-buddy-bears.com/de/home/index.php…

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BERLIN:

%26quot;We have to get to know each other better ..., ... it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully.%26quot;

In 2002 and 2003, this was the motto of the circle of %26quot;United Buddy Bears%26quot; next to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin - now promoting this unifying message on a BLOBAL TOUR. These %26quot;United Buddy Bears%26quot; stand together hand in hand in complete harmony - representing 125 member states of the United Nations.

Each Buddy Bear has been designed individually by an artist on behalf of his native country. The international artists%26#39; different styles are joined together in a very cheerful way as one work of art, spreading zest of life.

The symbolic message of the circle of the %26quot;United Buddy Bears%26quot; promotes tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Now the circle is in Sydney, see

www.united-buddy-bears-sydney.com

Helena Olivera