Germany Marx Karl’s birthday with red gnomes

Ottmar Hörl, a sculptor from the Bavarian city of Nuremburg, has installed the one-metre high, bright red statues of Marx around the Porta Nigra Roman gate in the southern city of Trier – in honour of what would have been his 195th birthday this Sunday.

Hörl – an artist with fierce political beliefs – told the crowd at the unveiling on Thursday that he felt Marx – born in Prussia on May 5, 1818, was the spiritual father of Communism and as such was an oft-misunderstood philosopher.

Marx made Trier his home, and the house he lived in is now a museum.

Photos from the Trier installation

Due to officially open to visitors and locals of the Rhineland-Palatinate city on Sunday, Hörl hopes the statues painted in four different shades of red, reflecting perhaps varying takes on the Left, will “make passers-by start thinking about Marx again.”

Socialist Die Linke‘s parliamentary party leader Gregor Gysi is expected to attend the public opening on Sunday.

DPA/The Local/jcw