Thousands of Europe's private and public garden gnome sculptures have been kidnapped and relocated by the Gnome Liberation Front and others.
Colorful plaster gnome sculptures have been decorating gardens throughout Europe since the 1870s. Throughout the years, some have loved the gnomes and found them charming, while others have reviled them, considering them ugly, repulsive, and the ultimate in bourgeoisie kitsch.
Bagatelle Gardens
In recent years, the garden gnome has gained a fashion cachet, particularly in French gardens. It was only after an exhibit of thousands of garden gnomes at Paris’s chic and exclusive Bagatelle Gardens in 2000 that the “Gnome Liberation Front” reared its ugly albeit whimsical head. In a nighttime “raid” at the Bagatelle Gardens, they stole twenty gnomes and threatened to strike again unless the Bagatelle’s exhibit was shut down and the thousands of gnomes were to “be released into their natural habitat.”
Gnome Liberation Front
In 1998, before the Bagatelle Gardens “raid”, the Gnome Liberation Front staged a “mass suicide” of gnomes. Eleven of them were found hanging by little nooses from a bridge in eastern France. The “suicide note” read “When you read these few words, we will no longer be part of your selfish world, where we serve merely as pretty decoration.”
Gnomes go to church
In 2003, the Gnome Liberation Front struck again, “abducting” 80 gnomes from private gardens in a small town in eastern France. All 80 gnomes resurfaced the next morning, lining the steps of the town’s church as if they were waiting to attend Mass.
Since the GLF’s first stunt, over 6,000 garden gnomes have been “liberated”, mostly from private gardens in France. Strangely, only a handful of owners have stepped forward to claim their stolen property.
Gnomes in America
As one might expect, the Gnome-napping phenomenon spread to the United States. A young American couple stole their wealthy next door neighbor’s garden gnome and took it with them on their European honeymoon, posting photos of the abducted gnome posing in front of popular European tourist attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the London Bridge.
This stunt eventually caught on and became a part of a popular television ad campaign by Internet travel site Travelocity.
More about the garden gnome
The first garden gnomes were made in Germany out of terracotta by sculptor Phillip Griebel in the mid-19th century. The sculptures became popular in Germany and then France, creating their own myth that they protected gardens from predators at night.
Although Griebel’s descendants still make the gnomes in Germany, most garden gnomes are currently made in Poland and China.
