Stay still! Living statues take over Belgian town

[July 23, 2018]    MARCHE-EN-FAMENNE, Belgium (Reuters) - Issac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein strode into a tiny Belgian town at the weekend to stand alongside more unconventional figures at Europe's biggest "living statue" festival.

Artists called "Le couple en chocolat" take part in the festival "Statues en Marche" in Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium, July 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

A man and a woman made entirely of chocolate, a mermaid with a flowing tail and an axe-wielding medieval executioner were also on display at the annual event in Marche-en-Famenne.

Living statues are a common sight in many city centers, but it is rare to see such a diverse range of this peculiar form of street art for which performers must keep still for painfully long periods of time to create the desired illusion.

Some of the statues in Marche came to southern Belgium from as far away as Argentina, Russia and Italy and were seen by more than 50,000 visitors.

(Reporting by Yves Herman; Writing by Julia Echikson; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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