Charlie Chaplin Zagreb – An unexpected friendly face

Zagreb is full of monuments and sculptures, but this one is quite unexpected. Charlie Chaplin, the famous film maker, is not a person usually associated with Zagreb. To the best of my knowledge, he never visited it.

However, Zagreb has always been keeping pace with the film and cinema industry. This homage to the legend of the early days of film is the work of sculptor Ratko Perić and is located outside the legendary Tuškanac cinema, close to the city center, but somewhat off the beaten path. The sculpture used to be at another location, but it was moved here, where older movies are still regularly shown. I like how the bronze Charlie welcomes us to the movies, just like the ushers and cinema owners used to welcome their visitors in the old days, before the time of multiplex theaters. During Zagreb Advent 2017, he even got a Santa Claus hat to blend with the spirit of Christmas!

Tuškanac is one of the few remaining old-style cinemas, now mostly hosting smaller, independent movies and non-English films. It is still quite popular and so is this sculpture, especially for taking photos. It’s as close as we can get to meeting Charlie Chaplin on the street and asking if he would take a selfie with us.