Probably everyone has read the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about the Bremen Town Musicians. And those who have not have surely seen the popular Soviet cartoon based on this wonderful story. So if, while strolling along the quiet streets of Old Riga, you unexpectedly come across a sculptural composition of four animals - a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster - piled on top of one another, you will immediately recognize the characters from the famous fairy tale.
This monument was a gift to Riga from its twin city of Bremen. The work of the German sculptor Christa Baumgartel was installed here, next to St. Peter's Church on Skarnu Street, in 1990. That period of history was marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall, Latvia gaining independence, and the end of the Cold War between East and West. So the group of Bremen Town Musicians peering into the robbers' hut was intended by the sculptor, in a humorous way, to symbolize the fall of the "Iron Curtain".
Nowadays, few people know about such allegorical subtleties. People simply like this amusing monument. It is very popular: many believe that if you rub the donkey's nose, a wish will come true, and if you manage to reach up and rub the beak of the rooster, which is the highest of all, then not just any wish but your most cherished one will come true.
