Les Relayeuses
Les Relayeuses , English Relay Runners (" relay runners "), is the French-speaking name for a sculpture by the Monegasque sculptor Emma de Sigaldi . The work of art was designed in 1988 for the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, which opened in June 1993 . It measures approx. 2 × 4 meters and weighs around a ton.
The group of figures was a gift from the Monegasque Olympic Committee in memory of Prince Pierre of Monaco , who was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1950 to 1964 . The sculpture was unveiled shortly after its completion in Seoul in 1988 by Prince Albert of Monaco on the occasion of the 100th session of the IOC.
The statue was later depicted on a commemorative stamp issued by Monaco for the 1992 Summer Olympics .
For decades, the figure stood on the floor with only three points of contact and was fixed at the sides with only one foot width, whereby only the longitudinal displacement of the runners provided additional support. The freely swinging arms of the group with different wall thicknesses between 8 and 10 mm soon required a thorough examination, especially since the work of art had changed location several times. At the turn of the year 2018/2019, the Swiss welding specialist Nikolaus Brunner subjected the sculpture to a restoration lasting several weeks in his workshop. One of the challenges in particular was maintaining the original shape during the necessary welding work.
Web links
- Anne-Marie Martin-Zürcher: Lausanne jardins musée olympique / Les Relayeuses / relayeurs. (Brief description of the work of art in French with a photograph of the relay runners)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c H. Moritz / SVS: Niggi by Night , Part 2: Restoration of a bronze statue (partly in English), in: Schweisstechnik Soudure. Official body of the Swiss Association for Welding Technology , Volume 107, Issue 1 from February 19, 2018, pp. 36–39; Digitized as a PDF document from svs.ch