Chizhik-Pyzhik, St. Peterburg, Russia
Chizhik Pyzhik, an 11-centimeter statue of a siskin, was installed near the Summer Garden in 1994, on the site of the former Imperial Legal Academy, founded by Prince Pyotr Oldenburgsky in 1835.
The Academy’s students wore green and yellow uniforms that apparently made them look like siskins. Their habitual – clandestine – visits to a well-known local hostelry led to the Petersburg folk-song, “Chizhik Pyzhik, where’ve you been? On Fontanka, drinking vodka.”
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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