Bye Bye American Pie : The Train to Heaven in Wroclaw

The Train to Heaven is a monument depicting an old, real steam locomotive standing upright and pointing towards the sky, located at Strzegomski Square in Wroclaw, Poland.

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The 65-years-old engine was procured from a museum and erected here in 2010 by artist Andrzej Jarodzki. The sculpture was commissioned by the city of Wroclaw and Wroclaw’s developer company Archicom to commemorate its 20 years of commercial activity in the city. The steam engine is 30 meters long and weighs 80 tons. The monument is said to be the largest urban sculpture in Poland.

Andrzej Jarodzki, an artist from Wroclaw, came up with the idea a long time ago while playing with his son’s toy engine. At one point he set the toy upright and that’s where the idea came from. However, Jarodzki was unable to realize it until he was approached by Archicom. Only five years old, the Train to Heaven is already Wroclaw’s most famous attraction.