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All Finland Kuopio Branch Boy Sculptures

Branch Boy Sculptures

A stick-sprouting statue watching a duo of disembodied dancing deities.

Kuopio, Finland

Added By
E Capemarsh
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Oksapoika - Branch Boy.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Oksapoika - Branch Boy.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Branch Boy - A footless figure in Bronze.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Sun and Moon goddesses, Kuutar and Päivätär.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Branch Boy watches the celestial goddesses.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Headless goddesses.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Twig-handed chrome gnome creature looks lost.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Lonely bench troll.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
Branch Boy looks towards Kuutar and Päivätär.   Capemarsh / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Seemingly blinded by a smudge of gold across his brow, a strange sculpture stands with its mouth partly agape. Its bronze body is adorned with boughs and branches. This six-foot metallic child is Branch Boy ("Oksapoika" in Finnish), the centerpiece of a bizarre folkloric sculpture trail.

Branch Boy’s feet are sunk into the sidewalk, or perhaps just missing, and he appears to have mislaid at least one of his hands. By following the direction of the sculpture's empty-socketed gaze, eagle-eyed observers may spot a second part of this odd sculpture trail.  

Branch Boy seems to be watching a pair of  fairy-like representations of the ancient Finnish Sun and Moon goddesses, Kuutar and Päivätär, frozen in an eternal chase around a nearby lamppost. The goddesses have no heads, nor any other body parts to speak of, being represented simply by tiny bronze dresses.

On a bench behind Branch Boy, a six-inch-tall, stick-limbed chrome gnome on a plinth looks like a left-behind award for Best Mythological Creature. Elsewhere on Kauppakatu Street, bronze rye bread dangles from a lamppost and abandoned bronze shoes lie like litter under a bench.

These strangely entertaining sculptures are the work of Finnish artist Pekka Kauhanen. Erected in 2013 following the pedestrianization of Kauppakatu, a thoroughfare leading from Finland’s largest city square, the sculptures are intended to be humorous nods to the woodland legends of Savonian mythology. Branch Boy himself bears his bough-like appendages in reference to Kuopio’s intimate connection with the woody wilderness on its doorstep.

Related Tags

Mythology Sculptures Statues

Know Before You Go

Branch Boy is situated on the corner of Kauppakatu, and Kuopio's Market Place, close to the pretty market hall. To find the goddesses, follow his gaze. The coordinates given are for Branch Boy himself; the other sculptures are to be hunted along the pedestrianised length of Kauppakatu.

Community Contributors

Added By

Capemarsh

Edited By

rasvaa

  • rasvaa

Published

April 25, 2018

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Sources
  • https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kuopiontori.fi%2Fliike%2Foksapoika&edit-text=&act=url
  • https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kuopiontori.fi%2Fliike%2Foksapoika&edit-text=&act=url
  • https://citynomadi.com/1-3/route/ded9edfbab519fa081b9b40443bdf2a1/embed/en
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Päivätär
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuopio
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_squares_by_size
Branch Boy Sculptures
30 Kauppakatu
Kuopio
Finland
62.891571, 27.677178
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Puijo Tower

Kuopio, Finland

miles away

Orinoro Gorge

Leppävirta, Finland

miles away

Kuappi

Iisalmi, Finland

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Kuopio

Kuopio

Finland

Places 2

Nearby Places

Puijo Tower

Kuopio, Finland

miles away

Orinoro Gorge

Leppävirta, Finland

miles away

Kuappi

Iisalmi, Finland

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Kuopio

Kuopio

Finland

Places 2

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