“I gave them character. I gave them feelings,” that artist, Roland Muller, told The Times in 2000. “I wanted people to react to them.”

His cows were mass produced, decorated by local artists and then put in Zurich’s streets.

Few expected his cow parade to be anything more than a quirky local event. But it was such a tourist draw that cows were soon arriving — and being tipped — all over the place.

Not everyone was pleased. Roberta Smith, our art critic, wrote at the time that the cows made outdoor sculptures “a near inescapable condition” after appearing in New York. But they remain popular. There have been parades of everything from pigs to bears, horses, elephants and lions.

Alex Marshall wrote today’s Back Story.

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