The quiet town of Wroclaw, Poland, is a fantastic destination to vacation in, with its historic buildings and a scenic countryside. It is often nicknamed the ‘Polish Venice’ for its 12 islands connected by 30 bridges over the Odra river. Hidden among the city’s charming architecture and winding streets lie tiny people in wait. Tiny gnomes, to be exact. The small town is absolutely overrun by these cheeky metallic munchkins, and has been for a decade.

The exact number of these peculiar pint-sized statues has been unknown for some time now. City officials, however, put the estimate around 400, each one unique in its own way. Any observant tourist who travels to Wroclaw will find that these gnomes almost seem to have a society within the town itself. Some gnomes take pride in being busy as miniature merchants, bankers, gardeners, firemen and many more professions. Others just have too much time to spare, sleeping outside of hotels or lounging in the sun. To add to the madness, each of these gnomes have names. Freudek, the professor, in his top hat and glasses lives near Wroclaw University. Hipoczysciciel rides a miniature bronze hippopotamus outside of the town zoo. And the most famous statue, named Sisyphus, depicts a duo of dwarfs locked in an eternal feud of pushing a round rock against each other.

But why? Why are there gnome statues? Why do they exist? The reason is actually a story of resistance and revolution. In the 1980’s, when the Soviet Union was on the decline but Poland still had a communist regime, a group named the Orange Alternative led by street artist Waldemar Frydych protested—with gnomes, of course. The townspeople, tired of the oppressive Polish government, protested peacefully by defacing communist propaganda with spray-painted drawings of gnomes. The movement quickly gained traction and popularity, and soon, the public began to march through the town demanding ‘dwarf rights’. The tiny dwarf drawings were no longer whimsical art pieces to mock the regime; they became the symbols of the revolution. And the revolution culminated on June 1, 1988, where 10,000 people in orange cone hats demanded freedom for the dwarfs in downtown Wroclaw. The Revolution of Dwarfs became a crucial part in taking down communism in Poland on the eve of the 20th century.

In 2001, to commemorate the history of the peaceful uprising, the city greenlighted a large bronze statue of a dwarf, named Papa Dwarf, on the street where the Orange Alternative used to gather. Four years later, Wroclaw’s mayor commissioned local sculptor Tomasz Moczek to create tiny bronze dwarfs to put around the city, each representing daily life in Wroclaw or a throwback to the revolution. Although Moczek was the first to make these slightly gnomes, other artists have added to the collection as well. Moczek is credited with making 100 of these dwarfs, with the rest 300 coming from different sculptors. The town has also recently expanded the scale of this attraction. There are tours, hunts, and even an annual festival where the gnomes are dressed up to keep warm for the cold months. Finally, the city also now has a website to browse and vote for favorites, as well as register new ones. Gnomes, in Wroclaw, are truly held as beloved residents of the small town.