“Der Tauzieher” (The Rope Puller) by Nikolaus Friedrich, 1911
Holzmarkt, Rheinauhafen
Cologne, September 2024
“The Tauzieher (Rope puller) is a limestone sculpture by Nikolaus Friedrich which was erected in 1911 in Rheinauhafen, Cologne. It depicts a man making a heavy rope or hawser fast to a bollard and is 6.5 metres (21 feet) in height. In 1980, it was listed as one of the first heritage sites in Cologne. Nikolaus Friedrich was a German sculptor, born in Cologne and working in Charlottenburg. In the 1908 art show of the Association of Cologne Artists at the Flora und Botanischer Garten Köln, he exhibited a sculpted male figure that excited considerable admiration in art circles. A plan was devised to install a version of the work, about twice the size of the original, on an appropriate site in the city. The Cologne friends of the arts took up a collection and when the amount collected was insufficient, the city pledged the remainder. The chosen location was a vacant piece of ground next to the timber market, opposite the new harbour. Erection of the scaffolding began on 21 September 1910. The statue was unveiled on 4 March 1911. It was the first free-standing sculpture in public space in Cologne.” (Tauzieher, Wikipedia)
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