He's watching. (source: SITA)
SINCE mid-November, a night watchman has guarded the eastern town of Kežmarok from his perch in the town hall tower. He watches day and night, and remains vigilant even in bad weather.
The truth is he’s a wooden, two-metre-tall statue with a halberd in one hand and a lantern in the other. He was donated by Beňo Malc, a Kežmarok native living abroad, who commissioned him from a Polish woodcarver, the SITA newswire wrote.
“It’s from history, as a night watchman actually used to work there,” Kežmarok Mayor Igor Šajtlava told the media. The statue faces Kežmarok Castle and the High Tatras. “My intention is to encourage the town’s carvers, who would be able to create such a thing,” Šajtlava explained.
Kežmarok’s night watchman was an aide to the town’s mayor and senators. His duties were to keep watch for fire and to alert the town to approaching enemies. Kežmarok also used to employ a clockmaker, an armourer, police, a herdsmen, a bird hunter, barbers and someone who oversaw the aqueduct.
