Schilling figures unveiled
On Tuesday (31 March), the Schilling figures in the park by the castle pond were freed from their winter protection. The team from the Parks Department led by Erik Wagner removed the enclosures with great sensitivity - supported by a mobile crane.
And it almost seems as if the figures are still a little frigid: "Morning" lifts his robe, "Night" wraps the boy protectively in her cloak - symbols of the times of day that can now be experienced again in the open air.
The Schilling figures are among the artistic and sculptural gems from the classicist period known far beyond Chemnitz. The sculptor Johannes Schilling (1828 to 1910) from Mittweida created them as allegories of the times of day. They are called "The Morning", "The Noon", "The Evening" and "The Night".
The originals, made from Postelwitz Elbe sandstone in 1861, originally stood on Brühl's Terrace in Dresden. In 1908, they were replaced there by bronze casts (duplicates) and Chemnitz received the more valuable originals. Since the 1930s, they have stood in the listed New Castle Pond, which was specially designed by city architect Fred Otto to house the statues.
