Hercules of Gelsenkirchen

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Hercules of Gelsenkirchen
Nordstern colliery, headframe of shaft 2 with glass-clad extension and Hercules statue

The Hercules of Gelsenkirchen is a monumental statue that was created by Markus Lüpertz , his employees and an art foundry. It stands on a former winding tower of the former Nordstern colliery in the Nordsternpark in Gelsenkirchen , is a landmark that defines the townscape and is a landmark of structural change in the Ruhr area .

Description and execution

The head of the sculpture , which refers to the hero Herakles from Greek mythology , is oversized. It seems like the body can barely hold it. Hercules has only one arm, which is shortened in relation to the height of the nude , and a rather slender torso . The other arm is missing, "otherwise the columnar effect of the figure would be lost" (Lüpertz). In the gripping hand of the arm shown, an apple was also provided for in the preliminary drafts for the sculpture . He is also waived in the Hercules of Gelsenkirchen. The statue is 18 meters high and has blue, sprayed hair, a red mouth and shows as its attribute the "Hercules Club", which is leaned against the thigh of the figure and rests on a turtle . To complete the sculpture, 244 individual parts made of cast aluminum - with a total weight of eight tons - were welded together. Inside, a frame made of galvanized steel - weighing 15 tons - supports the Hercules. It was set up at its destination in December 2010. The total price was around two million euros.

Preliminary work

For the project of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 - as one of the central festival locations of the European cultural project - the listed tower of Shaft II of the Nordstern colliery was expanded and renovated to reach a height of 103 meters together with the Hercules. Before the final casting, Lüpertz worked out 43 smaller models as drafts ( Bozzetti ), then he made the model for Hercules in his Berlin studio from wood wool, plaster and styrofoam on a 1: 1 scale. The Düsseldorf art foundry Schmäke sawed the model into 244 individual parts and cast them in aluminum.

Statements from Lüpertz

  • The work is done, I'm done, everything worked, that's great.
  • Hercules is a troubleshooter, he told the New York Times .
  • The Greek hero character is a problem eliminator.
  • Hercules is a character who copes with tasks and solves problems. So he is the right figure for a young, up-and-coming Ruhr area.

literature

  • Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg (ed.): Markus Lüpertz: Herkules. Bozzetti for a monument in the Ruhr area . Publication on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name from December 16, 2010 to August 28, 2011 in the Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg; Christof Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld 2011

Web links

Commons : Herkules von Gelsenkirchen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Description
  2. ↑ Bernd Aulich: Lüpertz 'Hercules drafts in the Lehmbruck Museum . Article from December 15, 2010 in the portal ruhrnachrichten.de , accessed on April 26, 2014
  3. ↑ Materials
  4. ↑ Landmark
  5. ↑ Preparations
  6. ↑ preliminary work
  7. ↑ Bertram Müller: Lüpertz plastic to Gelsenkirchen . Article from November 4, 2010 in the portal rp-online.de , accessed on April 26, 2014
  8. ↑ Troubleshooter
  9. ↑ "Hercules of Gelsenkirchen" raised on the colliery tower . Article from December 15, 2010 in the portal wz-newsline.de , accessed on April 26, 2014

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '41.4 "  N , 7 ° 1' 54.4"  E