Chances are you’ve seen this statue, admired it, but then walked on having failed to grasp what it actually is, or what it signifies.

Centrally located in front of Romania’s National Theatre , not 20 yards from the Bucharest InterContinental Hotel, the bronze Caruta cu paiate was created by sculptor Ioan Bolborea in honour of Romania’s favourite playwright, Ion Luca Caragiale. It was unveiled in December 2010.

The statue features characters from Caragiale’s plays (Domnul Goe, Nae Catavencu, Tache Farfuridi, and so on) and was unveiled in December 2010.

Next to the Caruta cu paiate is a seated bronze of Nenea Iancu – Caragiale himself.

It’s worth noting that for a while (from 2002-2006), a rather different statue of Caragiale stood here.

It is a statue which some locals claim is in fact an old Lenin, with the Russian revolutionary’s head having been replaced with that of Caragiale. We ourselves have no idea if this urban myth is true or not. We kind of hope that it is.