Shot Here · STOP 05 · Public Garden
The ducklings have a bronze twin in Moscow, sent in 1991 as a gift to Soviet children.
No movie put the Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Public Garden. A 1941 picture book did, and the bronzes arrived in 1987 on thirty-five feet of real Boston cobblestones. In 1991 a copy went to Moscow as a gift to Soviet children. One duckling, stolen in 1999, turned up in a Boston College library cubicle. They're by the gate at Charles and Beacon, low enough to sit with.
This is stop 5 of Shot Here. Walk it free in the app.
The plate
Collected on site
Public Garden, just inside the gate at Charles and Beacon Streets
Directions
Barbara Bush gave the Moscow set to Raisa Gorbachev. Its plaque, WBUR reported, is dedicated 'in love and friendship' from the children of the United States.
More footnotes on the story card, in the app.
In these collections: After Dark
Near Arlington · Near Boylston
Sources (4)
- Make Way For Diplomacy: How Boston's 'Ducklings' Helped Ease U.S.-Soviet TensionsBob Shaffer, WBUR · 2017-03-31
- Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings sculpture is installedWhen and Where in Boston · accessed 2026-10-11
- Celebrating a Milestone Anniversary in the Public GardenFriends of the Public Garden · 2017-08-15
- Make Way for Ducklings (sculpture)Wikipedia · accessed 2026-10-11