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Mystery in Germany: Who stole Bavaria’s giant wooden penis?

Police are investigating the mysterious disappearance of a wooden penis “monument” about two-metres high in the Allgäu region.

Published: 1 December 2020 13:08 CET
Mystery in Germany: Who stole Bavaria's giant wooden penis?
The statue has been a popular landmark for hikers.

At the weekend, the sculpture, which had stood for years on the 1738-metre-high Grünten mountain near Rettenberg in the Allgäu region, had disappeared without a trace.

As the “Allgäuer Zeitung” reported on Monday, only the stump and wood shavings remained of the phallic carving.

“Someone must have sawed it over in a cloak-and-dagger operation,” the owner of the nearby Grüntenhütte lodge told the newspaper.

Holger Stabik from the police headquarters in Kempten said on Monday that a preliminary investigation had now been initiated. 

Yet police are still faced with a mystery: “We do not know whether or not this is a criminal offence,” a spokesperson said.

The wooden penis has become a popular selfie spot, as this photo from this summer shows. Photo: DPA

Because so far not even the owner of the sculpture is known, there is no party which can claim damages. It’s possible that even the owner himself had picked up the penis again. 

Nevertheless, Stabik said: “Every possible clue is being investigated – but so far there are none.”

The sculpture already made headlines in Germany a few weeks ago when it had to be “re-erected” after being knocked from its pedestal.

The mayor of Rettenberg said it was a “great pity” to lose an unusual attraction that had helped make the region so popular.

Who brought the wooden penis up the mountain years ago – and why – is still not known exactly.

Local legend has it that a man received the 200 kg statue as a prank gift, but hauled it up the mountain when his family was not happy with it.

It has become a popular photo destination for tourists, and has even been designated a “cultural monument” by Google Maps.

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ARCHITECTURE

Poetry in motion: enter the world of France’s ‘scrap metal poet’

With its fairytale towers, quirky animated sculptures, fantastical constructions and musical fountains, the inventive world crafted out of discarded junk by the man known as the "Scrap Metal Poet" is tucked away deep in the northwestern French countryside.

Published: 21 July 2018 08:57 CEST
Poetry in motion: enter the world of France's 'scrap metal poet'
Photo: AFP / Fred TANNEAU

“It's an extraordinary place in my imagination,” says its creator Robert Coudray, who has let his imagination run wild for nearly three decades, turning his ideas into reality.

With its fairytale towers, quirky animated sculptures, fantastical constructions and musical fountains, the inventive world crafted out of discarded junk by the man known as the “Scrap Metal Poet” is tucked away deep in the northwestern French countryside.

The sculptures sprung from the imagination of Robert Coudray, 65, who turned them into reality.

“It's an extraordinary place in my imagination,” says its creator Robert Coudray, who has let his imagination run wild for nearly three decades, turning his ideas into reality.

Now to the sounds of chiming bells and flowing water, visitors can wander around his little timeless world of scrap creations, peeking inside some of the 15 towers and admiring some 70 figures that move, laid out over a hectare (2.5 acres) of land in the village of Lizio.

Coudray says he started creating fantasy cabins one day when he was bored.


Coudray, 65, said it all began out of boredom.

“One day, I was bored so I started to make cabins, little cabins… and since I was bored, I made them bent,” says the sculptor, whose previous jobs ranged from stonemason to farmer.


Coudray scours junkyards for the main materials he uses for his sculpture, scrap metal and wood

Next he began creating sculptures and fountains that move and come alive.

To build them he scours junkyards for his main materials, scrap metal and wood, and lets his imagination soar in his workshop.

“I love everything which is not normal, everything that is quirky,” he says.

“I love everything which is not normal, everything that is quirky,” says Coudray.


And each year his world grows, for he says he's not done yet.

“I have a vision of where I want to go and that's going to take another 15 to 20 years,” he says.

Though located off the usual tourist route in Brittany, Coudray attracts around 35,000 visitors every year, both youngsters and those young at heart.

Around 35,000 people visit the “Universe of the Scrap Metal Poet” site each year.

As one visitor put it: “It's enchanting, it's as if we rediscover the spirit of childhood through all he has done.”

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