( CNN ) -- An unusual exhibition is confusing and amusing tourists and locals in central Copenhagen this month . Strange signs from around the world can be seen in Copenhagen , Denmark . `` Signspotting '' is a collection of more than 100 signs found by travelers around the world and recreated by travel writer Doug Lansky . `` I wanted it to look as if we 'd stolen the sign or someone with a professional camera had taken a really good picture of it , '' he told CNN . See pictures from Signspotting in Copenhagen . » . Lansky started his collection almost 17 years ago , encouraged by friends who found his photos of strange signs more compelling than his treasured holiday snaps . As a travel columnist for the Chicago Tribune , he set about collecting photos of as many bizarre signs as he could . Interest in the project became so big that he eventually used them to replace the column itself . Signspotting Weekly was taken up by six papers , and before he knew it people began to send him pictures of signs they 'd seen , eventually enough to fill a floor-to-ceiling cabinet . The photos filled two volumes of Signspotting books for Lonely Planet . Lansky chose the best for the first exhibition in Stockholm last year . `` I felt bad I had n't seen them . I knew I was n't going to go around the world to track it down so I thought I 'd do it this way , '' he said . Creating the exhibition took hours of painstaking work to digitally enlarge the photos so they looked like the real thing . `` When most of these people sent these signs in they were on a postcard-sized photo and the actual sign was about the size of a postage stamp . To blow them up to this size was tricky , '' he said . The photos were then mounted onto real signs on metal poles standing in concrete bases . The free exhibition opened in Copenhagen , Denmark last week and will move to Arhus , Denmark on July 1st . Lansky is currently building a second exhibition for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August .
Doug Lansky has been collecting photos of amusing signs for 17 years . The `` Signspotting '' street exhibition opened in Copenhagen last week . Reproducing the life-sized signs from tiny photographs is a painstaking task . Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos:Photos: '