The Beetle Monuments (Polish: Pomniki chrząszcza) are two similar monuments in Szczebrzeszyn, Poland, statues of an amphomorphicbeetle wearing a dinner suit and a top hat, and playing on a fiddle.[1][2]
The monuments allude to the Polishtongue twister poem Chrząszcz by Jan Brzechwa, which the town is widely associated with among the Poles. Its first line reads: W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie (translation: In Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reeds).[3]
In September 2002, at Klukowskiego Street in Szczebrzeszyn, at the foot of the Castle Hill, a statue was unveiled of an amphomorphicbeetle playing on a fiddle. It is made from linden wood and placed on a stone pedestal. It has a height of 3 m and width of 1 m. It was created by students of the ZamośćLiceum of Arts under the supervision of professor Zygmunt Jarmuł.[6][1] It is located near the Zygmunt Kulikowski [pl] Street by the source of a spring flowing to the nearby Wieprz river.[7]
Second monument
Since wood is a perishable material, the city of Szczebrzeszyn commissioned Zygmunt Jarmuł to create a more durable statue of a beetle. It was unveiled by the Szczebrzeszyn ratusz (town hall) at the market square (part of the Kościuszko Square) on 23 July 2011.[1][2] It consists of a bronze statue of an anthropomorphic beetle wearing a dinner suit and a top hat, and playing on a fiddle. It has a height of about 2 m. It was 70% funded by the EU withiun the project "Z kulturalną wizytą w chrząszczowym grodzie" ("On a cultural visit to the beetle town").[1]
