When the equestrian statue was new and glowed gold from far away, the work of art even made it onto the television news. Every media outlet imaginable from as far away as Italy reported on this sculpture of Angela Merkel on horseback. It burst during the night of this Thursday. Without any apparent external influence. The artist Wilhelm Koch said this.
The statue was unveiled on October 8, 2021, two months before the end of Angela Merkel’s 16-year chancellorship. It was erected in front of the Tempel Museum in the small Upper Palatinate town of Etsdorf, which is also run by Koch, to complement the photo exhibition “Horse and rider” Till Briegleb, Tempel Museum. At the time, many media outlets reported on the sculpture, which had an undeniable touch of humor. It showed Merkel dressed in her usual pants suit, but neither with reins in her hand nor with a saddle under her bottom. To do this, she formed her iconic Merkel diamond with her hands.
Like a bronze sculpture, but made of lightweight concrete on the inside: the equestrian statue of Angela Merkel on the day of its unveiling by artist Wilhelm Koch on October 8, 2021 in front of the Tempel Museum in Etsdorf.
(Photo: Marcus Rebmann)
The 2.70 meter high, life-sized sculpture did not necessarily follow the model of lordly, idealized portraits on horseback. The realistically portrayed head of government a. D., for example, was not placed on a pedestal, but on a piece of grass in front of the museum, facing east, but in the safe position of her mount, a quarter horse. The object is also mentioned in Merkel’s Wikipedia entry.
However, significant damage had already occurred in the spring of 2023. The horse’s head was broken off and one of Merkel’s hands fell off. There were cracks and peeling of the bronze composite coating. Koch then reassembled and renovated the statue of the rider. However, he already decided on a new color scheme in white.
The sculpture had already suffered serious injuries and was only held together with adhesive tape.
(Photo: Wilhelm Koch)
“The first small cracks in the last few days didn’t suggest anything bad,” he says. “Apparently the equestrian statue could no longer withstand the internal pressure and load, despite all rescue attempts.” In the morning, when he opened the temple museum, he discovered the dilapidated condition. “How to deal with the leftovers needs to be clarified first,” he explains.
Anyone who knows the winner of the Bavarian Art Prize and his tireless commitment – for example for the Amberg “Air Museum” and a new Glyptothek as a colonnaded hall made of 47 columnar oaks, which represent the 47 countries of the continent of Europe – still finds it difficult to imagine that Koch would like this development left it entirely to chance.
Wilhelm Koch in the Amberg Air Museum.
(Photo: Sebastian Beck)
The one and a half ton object – or Trumm, as they aptly say in Bavaria – was manufactured using an experimental 3D printing process. It was said at the time that the Angela Merkel statue had succeeded in printing a statically delicate, lifelike equestrian statue in recycled lightweight concrete for the first time. The process protects the environment and resources because works of art and buildings are produced without formwork and without waste.
“Unfortunately, 3D concrete printing at the time was not very durable and unsuitable for outdoor use,” says Koch today. Whether the predetermined breaking points on Merkel’s monument were intentional or more or less knowingly accepted will probably remain a secret forever. Meanwhile, the symbolic power of the countless rubble that now lies on the ground in the damp grass of late summer is clear. So much for the state of the nation.
Past splendor: The equestrian statue of Angela Merkel after restoration, just a few weeks ago.
(Photo: Wilhelm Koch)