Chizhik Pizhik is probably the smallest tourist attraction in St. Petersburg. Little chizhik pizhik (Coming from the nursery rhyme, “Chizhik Pizhik where have you been? Drinking vodka on the green”), this tiny little bronze bird is installed half way up the embankment of the Fontanka, near the Summer Gardens. Sometimes people love Chizhik so much they want to take him home with them, and so they have stolen him. After the last theft, it is reported that the Museum of Urban Sculpture now has 12 extra Chizhik’s in storage just in case. Although Chizhik Pizhik has only been resident since 1994, a local legend has sprung up that if your coin lands on the shelf, then you will one day return to St. Petersburg.
