The old fire station in Hrodna bears a large mural that at first glance appears to be an ordinary piece of Soviet-era wall painting — a woman's portrait in a relatively conventional style. Look more carefully, and the figure resolves into something more complex: what appears to be a single image is actually composed in a way that suggests different scenes or interpretations depending on angle and light, a trompe-l'oeil effect that has earned it the nickname "Mona Lisa of Grodno."
The fire station building itself is a fine piece of early 20th-century architecture on one of the old town's main streets. The mural is a quirky addition to a city that already has considerable architectural interest — one of those incidental discoveries that makes wandering a place worth doing without an itinerary.