I'm a simple emigrant and I met a bull with a bear in Frankfurt

If you literally step away just two minutes from the main shopping street in Frankfurt, you can reach a small square, on which two huge bronze beasts stand. A bull and a bear. Anyone who is at least vaguely familiar with the financial world will immediately understand that these are symbols of the stock market. This composition was commissioned to the sculptor Reinhard Dahlauer in honor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's 400th anniversary. In 1988 it was installed and given to the city: the bull was placed closer to the building, with its back to the bear and in a fighting stance, as if it protects all of us from the bear. This was done because the bull symbolizes market growth, and the bear — decline. You’re probably familiar with the bull statue in New York; there are many such bulls around the world, but in Germany they stood out and decided to be more realistic. Here it shows that in the market not only endless growth and joy, but sometimes the loss of savings and pain. Since then these statues have regularly been used in performances by activists and artists. For example, in 2007 the statues were painted green in honor of the collaboration between the Frankfurt and Swiss stock exchanges. And in 2008, after the crisis, they placed a bronze turtle nearby as a call for safe investments in government securities. The following year farmers brought a live pig there with the words “Banks are easy for bankers, hard for farmers,” protesting agricultural policy. I’ll post all the photos in the comments. And, of course, people rub the bear's nose for luck, the bull's horns and something else—can you guess what? Behind the animals is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This is one of the largest and most important exchanges in the world. Every day billions of euros are traded there; for example, in April this year the average daily trading volume was 4.57 billion euros. Although most trading now takes place electronically, there are still live trades here that you can watch from the viewing gallery. The building itself is very beautiful with sculptures symbolizing each continent. But right now the building’s facade is under renovation, so you can’t fully enjoy it. But you can view the Frankfurt Stock Exchange not only from the outside – the exchange has a visitors’ center. Every day you can simply walk in and look at the exchange from inside. To do this you need to register on the center's site; there you can also completely free go to exhibitions, interactive activities, lectures about the market, and even a trading simulator. Just don’t forget to dress a bit nicer; they say shorts may not be allowed. In general, I personally like that the Germans included the bear in the composition so that we don’t forget that investments are unpredictable, and investors’ emotions even more so. #frankfurt #money