An elephant in a niche: the story of the very first elephant in Graz (11 photos)

This is the story of Graz's first elephant, whose memory lurks in a niche of an ancient building.





On the corner of Neue Welt Gasse in Graz, Austria, stands an ancient building, in a niche of which lies a small, charming sculpture. This detail is easy to miss in the bustle of the Franciscan Quarter.



Graz

This is a reminder of the "Little Elephant" inn, which stood on this site around 1850, but its history goes back much further.





In October 1629, an elephant came to Graz for the first time. Of course, not alone, but as part of a traveling menagerie that had already delighted Amsterdam and Nuremberg. The inn on Südtiroler Platz provided shelter for the traveling menagerie and was later renamed "At the Black Elephant" in memory of this event.



The business expanded over the years, and generations later, the inn became the Grand Hotel Elephant. Its owner opened another establishment on Neue Welt Gasse—the "Little Elephant" tavern, decorated with a figurine of the animal hidden in a niche.



Today, neither establishment exists, but the little elephant is still here, condescendingly and attentively observing the eternal movement of life.