The beautiful statue of the goddess Gaea by the famous sculptor Gerhard Marcks (1889-1981) was positioned for years in a shopping passage in Cologne. In September 2005 the statue had been demounted and removed to be sold at auction. This caused a controversy about ownership, copyright and dedication of the statue. As reported the removal was carried out in a rather crude manner by separating the statue from its base with an angle grinder, which heated up the discussion considerably.

By this incident I was reminded of some pictures that I took in May 2005 and I show them here, now that the statue is no longer in the public.

Follow up:
In December 2005 a copy of the statue was positioned at its ancestral place. One of the important pieces of art in Cologne is back in the public.