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| pictures are screenprints from the video below |
The small community of Hodyszewo in the north-east of Poland, with 139 inhabitants in 2011, is home to a garden decorated with mostly dozens of sculptures depicting a variety of characters from fairytales.
Life and works
This site was created by Zdzislaw Syczewski, a retiree now probably in his seventies, who started this creative project to avoid boredom and to amuse his grandchildren.
Syczewski lives with his wife in Bialystok, the regional capital, about 40 km north-east of Hodyszewo. In that city he worked as a glass technologist in a glass factory.
For the couple the property in Hodyszewo probably is kind of a country house. They like to go there as often as possible.
The image above shows that the site has a large garden, with on one side a fence with decorations, undoubtedly made by Syczewski.
Syczewski has now made more than a hundred sculptures, most of which have been placed in the garden
Initially he worked with wood from linden, spruce and aspen, but today he prefers willow wood, which is durable and easy to work with.
As said, the sculptures depict figures from a variety of fairytales, such as the especially in Poland famous Koziolek Matolek the goat (picture above right), a classic of Polish children books, written by Kornel Makuszyński.
Another example is Masha (picture below left) from the folk story Masha and the bear, main character of a 2009 Russian television series, which became a great success world wide.
In addition to characters from Eastern European and Russian fairy tales, the garden also includes characters from Western Europe and the United States, such as Donald Duck, Pinocchio and the Smurfs.
In general, the creations are freely arranged, standing alone, or in small groups. Only a single sculpture, like the character pictured below, is set up in a small four-post structure with a roof.
The garden also has a summer house, probably made by Syczewski himself, with a small kitchen and sitting area, very suitable for spending summer days amidst the fairytale characters.
The self-taught artist continues to make creations that depict characters from fairytales, even though the grandchildren have become older and did outgrow the world of fairies.
Documentation
* Article (2020) on website Podlaskie24 with a series of pictures and a video
* Article (2021) on weblog Znalezienie with a series of pictures
Video
* Video (May 2020) by Obiektyw Podlaskie24pl (YouTube, 4'40")
Zdzisław Syczewski
Fairytale garden
Hodyszewo, Municipality of Nowe Piekuty, Podlaskie region, Poland
can be visited when the owner is present
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