The "Nischel" turns 50 - a celebration
Birthday party around the Karl Marx Monument on 9 October, School project "Mach dir 'nen Kopp" - registration possible until 14 September
9 October marks the anniversary of Chemnitz's most famous landmark, the Karl Marx Head. 50 years after its inauguration, the city of Chemnitz and the C3 Chemnitz event centres are inviting visitors to a colourful programme around the Karl Marx Monument to mark the end of the Cultursommer. An exhibition "DENKmal Karl Marx." in the OPEN SPACE will illustrate the monument and its city history.
The following week, from 11 to 15 October, schoolchildren will be taken on a short journey through the city centre by tour guides as part of the "Mach dir 'nen Kopp" project. They will not only visit the exhibition, but also experience the monument from a completely new perspective together with a painter, a comic artist and a graffiti artist.
Registration: School classes can still register until 14 September by emailing cornelia.siegel(at)stadt-chemnitz.de.
In the coming weeks, various content such as videos, interviews and images relating to the anniversary of the Karl Marx Monument will appear on social media under #nischeln and on the City of Chemnitz website www.chemnitz.de/nischeln.
(The website can also be accessed via the QR code).
History
The Karl Marx Monument, the second largest portrait bust in the world, was unveiled on 9 October 1971 in front of around 250,000 people. Since then, the work of art has adorned the cityscape of Chemnitz. The Russian sculptor Lev Yefimovich Kerbel had originally been commissioned to create a full-body sculpture of Karl Marx, but changed his mind during the creative process.The Karl Marx head was cast in bronze in Leningrad, dismantled into 95 individual parts and then transported to its current location. It was reassembled on the marble plinth on Brückenstraße and VEB Germania welded the parts together to ensure that the monument could withstand any wind and weather. The Karl Marx Monument also includes the writing mirror attached to the building behind it, the "Parteisäge", by the two artists Volker Beier and Heinz Schumann, which is also made up of 174 parts and was meticulously crafted by the artists.
Birthday programme on 9 October
10 am, information column & exhibition "DENKmal Karl Marx."Location: in front of the Nischel and then in the OPEN SPACE behind the Nischel:
The Karl Marx Monument as a tourist magnet gets an information stele for its birthday. It will be inaugurated at 10 a.m. in front of the monument by Mayor Micheal Stötzer and a donor.
This will be followed by the opening of the exhibition "DENKmal Karl Marx. Propagated, scorned, marketed - a monument and its city history" will open in the Open Space (behind the monument in the "Parteisäge"). The focus is on the city's upheavals: the destruction and reconstruction after the Second World War, the renaming to Karl-Marx-Stadt as well as the Peaceful Revolution and the renaming.
The exhibition will remain open to visitors until 19 October.
2 p.m., "50 years of Nischel - DENKmal weiter"
Location: OPEN SPACE behind the Nischel
The panel discussion with contemporary witnesses, a monument conservationist and a historian is intended to get interested parties talking to each other - about how Chemnitz's view of the monument has changed, what it means for the city then and now and what the future of the Karl Marx Monument might look like.
6 pm, birthday party for Chemnitz
Location: Stage next to the Nischel
18.00 Mazze Wiesner & Band
19.15 De Nischlhupper
7.45 pm Gruppa Karl-Marx-Stadt
20.30 Light installation with DJ
During the day there will also be themed guided tours of the city organised by the association of tour guides, stalls around the monument and Marx beer.