Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Monument
attraction
Instead of a typical portrait bust, this colossal bronze tribute captures Goethe’s spirit as a youth with an eagle.
Description
Munich sculptor Herman Hahn cast the eighty-ton bronze in Germany, shaping a figure reminiscent of a Greek god to embody the writer’s “Olympian achievements.” Hahn framed the installation with a low wall featuring a bas-relief portrait, bench seating, and a quotation from Faust in German and English. The unconventional memorial was lampooned by Chicago Tribune critics for weeks upon its debut, and later weathered a 1951 lightning strike that required recasting its left foot and ankle.
