Barmaley Fountain

The Barmaley was a fountain in the city of Stalingrad, installed in front of the Museum of Defense of Tsaritsyn-Stalingrad. The statue represented a circle of six children, dancing around a crocodile. It was made famous by several photographs by E. Evzerikhin that juxtaposed the carnage of the Battle of Stalingrad with the banality of children at play.

After the war, the fountain was restored but was later removed in the 1950s. In the movies, the statue was prominently featured in "Enemy at the Gates" and " V for Vendetta".

The Name

The allegory of the monument was derived from eponymous fairy tale poem written by Korney Chukovsky. Excerpt (literal translation):

:"Little children! / For nothing in the world / Do not go to Africa / Do not go to Africa for a walk! // In Africa, there are sharks, / In Africa, there are gorillas, / In Africa, there are large / Evil crocodiles / They will bite you, / Beat and offend you - // Don't you go, children, / to Africa for a walk / In Africa, there is a robber, / In Africa, there is a villain, / In Africa, there is terrible / Bahr-mah-ley! // He runs about Africa / And eats children - / Nasty, vicious, greedy Barmaley!"

While being burned in fire by Barmaley, Doctor Aybolit asked crocodile brought in by gorilla to swallow up Barmaley for him not to be able to harm little children anymore. Crocodile did it but Barmaley was later released after he promised to change. Barmaley became overall nicer and proclaimed he would be more kind, would give away pastry to kids and that he loves little children.

External links

* [http://members3.boardhost.com/stalingradboard/msg/1156479716.html Pictures]