"Worn to the holes": sights that are mercilessly destroyed "for good luck"

The custom of rubbing statues and monuments is known all over the world. At the same time, no one can say when it was born and what exactly it is connected with. Perhaps this is an echo of pagan rituals, when our ancestors asked for health, good luck and prosperity from wooden and stone idols? After all, these three things are usually asked from the figures, polishing a particular detail with them.

It should be said right away that for the sculptures themselves, the rubbing ritual does not bring anything good. Bronze, which is most often used by masters, although an alloy of metals, but does not belong to durable and abrasion-resistant materials. An excellent example of what can happen is the famous statue of Juliet in Verona, standing under the windows of the house where the Shakespearean heroine allegedly lived.

Thousands of tourists ' hands touch the chest of Romeo's beloved every day, and as a result, the statue was wiped to holes. Experts assessed the damage caused to the landmark and said that it would not be possible to patch the hole, since the bronze around it was thinned to the state of tissue paper. Juliet will have a long and expensive reconstruction, during which she will be partially cast again. So before you rub the statue, think about it, maybe you should just take a picture next to it?

The sculpture "King Kong Eggs", installed in Prague, visible from afar — the polished primate's belongings shine hotter than the sun on a sunny day.

To the "attacking bull" from Wall Street in In New York, they also rub their eggs until they shine. Many people are sure that this brings good luck in business.

They say that the dog from the Moscow metro station "Revolution Square" is charged for good luck. Her muzzle gets hard every day and the hour is not far away when she will also need the help of restorers.

The sculpture of a cleaning lady in a business center on Mira Avenue in Moscow was "put in a corner" so that visitors would not grab her for appetizing curves, but they still reach out, and not only gentlemen, but also ladies are naughty.

The composition "For two hares", installed on the Andreevsky Descent in Kiev, is constantly attacked by guests of the Ukrainian capital. Everyone wants to hold Pronya Prokopovna's hand and hug Golokhvastov, which is clearly visible in the places polished to a shine.

Lviv monument to the writer Leopold von Masoch on Serbskaya Street suffers in an obscure place. Guests of the cultural capital of Ukraine put their hand in the figure's pocket to rub the bronze genitals, for the sake of happiness in their personal life. This idea, it would seem, is purely female, but sometimes male tourists do not refuse it either.

And this is the long-suffering "Cinderella" from the city of Dolgoprudny near Moscow. Her shoe is not only rubbed for good luck, but also periodically stolen, obviously, also for good luck.

Another attraction of Dolgoprudny, the figure of the legendary lieutenant Rzhevsky, was more lucky, if I may say so. They rub his index finger for luck and ... smear his mustache with jam, chocolate, ice cream and other sweets.

This is a monument on the grave of the French journalist Victor Noir, who was shot in a duel in the middle of the 19th century. To rub the fly of his trousers and the socks of his shoes, ladies of different ages and status come to the Paris cemetery of Pere Lachaise. They say that it brings good luck in love affairs.

The only non-bronze composition of our selection is a monument on the grave of the writer Oscar Wilde, in the same cemetery of Pere Lachaise. Fans of the classic of world literature covered all parts of the monument, where they could only reach, with kisses, leaving traces of lipstick on the stone. Now the cemetery administration has protected the landmark with a glass fence.