Denkmal der Arbeit

Denkmal der Arbeit is a bronze sculpture by Karl Geiser at Helvetiaplatz, in front of Zurich’s Volkshaus.

The monument presents ordinary working people rather than heroic figures.

A group of figures includes two men in work clothes, a woman carrying a shopping bag, and a young girl.

The girl appears to skip beside the adults.

Geiser designed the work after winning a Zurich competition honouring labour and working people.

The city completed the sculpture after Geiser’s death.

Workers enlarged his plaster model with a pantograph before casting the final sculpture in bronze.

The arrangement reflects Geiser’s idea of a new realism in sculpture.

The figures came from sketches and photographs made in Venice and the surrounding area.

Their everyday appearance prompted debate about how workers should be represented.

Some labour unions considered the design too harmless and preferred a more dramatic monument.

The group is sometimes called the monument to the unknown shopping bag.

That nickname focuses on the woman’s bag rather than the sculpture’s complete family-like scene.