King Bladud’s pigs – in Bath
May 28, 2008 by admin
As we wandered round Bath at the weekend, I kept noticing these colourful painted pigs which are part of a street art project in Bath, called King Bladud’s pigs.
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Apparently in Once-upon-a-time-land, there lived a prince called Bladud who contracted leprosy on his travels. Realising that he couldn’t inherit the kingdom, he left home with his herd of pigs who also caught the disease.
As they came upon the hot mud pools from the natural springs of Bath, the pigs rolled in the mud and were cured. Observing them, Bladud tried the natural spa treatment that people now pay good money for and was also cured, returning home to claim his inheritance.
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Over 100 of these pigs have been painted by local artists and are on display in public spots around the city of Bath. Later in the summer the pigs will be auctioned – an unusual sculpture perhaps for your back garden?
There have been similar art projects in other European cities, featuring bears in Berlin, storks in Germany and a parade of cows all over the place. You can read about the project on the website here and see more photos on the Flickr photo group here.
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Barbara at Hole in the Donut Travels on Wed, 30th Dec 2009 5:58 pm
Of all things – pigs! What fun. I also recently wrote about several of these projects around the U.S.: http://holeinthedonut.com/2009/12/23/coconut-grove-miami-florida-peacocks. I really like the fact that, in addition to having lots of fun discovering all the painted sculptures in each city where they are displayed, the event also raises money for charity.
Visiting the Roman Baths at Bath | Heather on her travels on Tue, 27th Apr 2010 8:35 pm
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