Heureka

Heureka stands in Zurich as a large kinetic sculpture, painted matte black and assembled from industrial remains. Its iron bars and steel wheels rise roughly 7.8 metres high. Five motorised units create a changing silhouette through lifting, swinging, and forward-and-backward movements. Wheelchair access makes the public artwork approachable for visitors with limited mobility.

Created by Jean Tinguely between 1963 and 1964, the sculpture began as a commission for Lausanne’s Swiss National Exhibition. This large sculpture became Tinguely’s first public work. Zurich has displayed the sculpture outdoors since 1967. Iron, scrap metal, agricultural machinery parts, pipes, and electric motors form the structure. Its matte-black surface unites mismatched components into one restless machine.

The five motors drive motion without practical purpose, turning industrial debris into playful public art. Tinguely connected its wheels with both wisdom and madness. The result invites you to watch repetitive machinery while considering technology, productivity, and collective routines.

City: Zurich
Content updated: 2026-06-22

Image: Roland zh CC BY-SA 3.0
Image: Roland zh, upload on 14. September 2009 CC BY-SA 3.0
Image: Micha L. RieserAttribution
Image: Micha L. RieserAttribution
Image: Roland zh CC BY-SA 3.0

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Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Zurich. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

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myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.