Going through a bag of souvenirs (read: ticket stubs and other junk) I picked up in Berlin a few years ago, I came across a postcard of the rather iconic Berlin pedestrian crossing lights. Dubbed the Ampelmann, this little green (and occasionally red) gent has blossomed into quite a lucrative franchise for Berliners. Originally designed by East Germans as a friendlier version of a do-not-walk-unless-you-want-to-be-under-an-automobile man, Ampelmann can now be found on anything from necklaces to coffee mugs. The company's website does a good job of waxing poetic about all the different places they've managed to paste the thing in this video.
However, Germany isn't the only place with an idiosyncratic pedestrian light. Der Spiegel compiled Ampelmann's wide array of crossing men, which I've shared here. I've also managed to add a few of my own.
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| East Germany's Ampelmann |
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| West Germany |
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| Paris |
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| Greece |
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| Austria |
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| Denmark (a Hans Christian Andersen reference) |
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| Fredericia, Denmark (in reference to the First Schleswig War) |
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| Belgium |
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| China |
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| Columbia |
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| The EU's standard |
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| Guadeloupe |
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| Indonesia |
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| Italy |
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| Japan |
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| Majorca |
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| Monaco |
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| Mongolia |
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| Netherlands |
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| Poland |
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| Spain |
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| Taiwan |
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| Thailand |
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| Norway |
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| Czech Republic |
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| Australia |
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| Ireland |
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| England |
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| United States |
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