Karl Marx Monument

Locals affectionately call it the "Nischel", a central German word for head or skull. In the middle of the city centre, Karl Marx gazes over Brückenstraße as a 7.1-metre bronze head; with its plinth the monument stands over 13 metres tall and weighs around 40 tonnes. After the Lenin head in Ulan-Ude, which is 60 centimetres taller, it is considered the second-largest portrait bust in the world. The head stayed in place after German reunification and remains the best-known landmark of Chemnitz.

History: a head for Karl-Marx-Stadt

On 10 May 1953 Chemnitz was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt, and the rebuilding of its heavily bombed centre followed the model of socialist urban planning. A monument to the city's namesake was to crown the new centre. The Soviet sculptor Lev Kerbel submitted 17 designs, only one of which showed the head alone. It was chosen because, with a full figure, viewers at eye level would have been looking at the philosopher's shoes. The head was cast in Leningrad, cut into 95 pieces and welded back together on site by VEB Germania. It was unveiled on 9 October 1971 in front of around 250,000 people, among them Erich Honecker and a great-grandson of Marx.

What to see

• The head: The angular bronze stands on two plinths clad in slabs of Ukrainian stone.
• Lettering wall: On the facade behind it, "Workers of all countries, unite" appears in German, English, French and Russian, made up of 174 metal panels.
• "Party saw": The building behind, with its sawtooth-shaped layout, was once the seat of the district council and later of the regional SED party leadership.
• Brückenstraße: In GDR times this broad axis was called Karl-Marx-Allee and served as a backdrop for parades on public holidays.

Good to know

After 1990 there was a heated debate about removing the head, and several cities expressed interest in buying it. Chemnitz kept it and until 2007 even used the slogan "Stadt mit Köpfchen" (city with brains). A plan to take it to Münster for an exhibition in 2007 failed because the city vetoed it. In 2008 art students enclosed the monument for a few weeks in a walk-in "Temporary Museum of Modern Marx", letting visitors face it at eye level. In 2013 the band Seeed shot a music video here. As part of the city's bid to become European Capital of Culture 2025, several artists engaged with the head in 2020.

Visiting and getting there

The monument stands on Brückenstraße near the junction with Straße der Nationen and is freely accessible at all times. From the main station, walk along Straße der Nationen into the city centre; the town hall and market square are also just a few minutes away.

Tripto tip

For a good photo, stand slightly to one side across Brückenstraße so that the head and the lettering wall fit into one frame. In the evening the head is floodlit. Allow 15 to 30 minutes and combine your visit with a walk around Chemnitz city centre.