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
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