In 2010, the famous Ukrainian sculptor Oleg Pinchuk presented Kiev with a bronze piggy bank toad, the creation of which cost $180,000. The monument to the toad turned out to be huge both in weight and size: it occupies 4 meters square and weighs 6 tons. The sculptor asked the Kiev authorities to erect a monument to the toad at the cult site of the 1980s, which was located in Kreschaty Park below archs of Friendship of Peoples – the dance floor “Zhaba”, where Kiev “dudes” gathered. But in the end, the art object was placed near the Water Museum.
– A toad made of bronze will not suffer the fate of Lenin or Petrovsky. It will stand for centuries as a symbol of success, money, wealth and prosperity of Kyiv, Oleg Pinchuk said at the opening of the monument.
The bronze toad immediately acquired its own sign: if you throw a coin inside the sculpture and rub its tongue, then luck will smile at you in the near future and you will be happy. According to rumors, a special coin acceptor bucket is built into the monument, which can accept millions of coins. When he can no longer accept coins, a mechanism will work that will open the bucket and all this wealth will fall at the feet of the one who last threw a coin at the toad. And the toad is able to “come to life” and “spit” water. Pinchuk made a reservoir inside the sculpture to collect rainwater, and when it is filled to capacity, the water begins to spurt out of the toad’s mouth.