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A narrow eleven-kilometer riding and hiking trail extends across fields and farmland, passing small towns within the Rhine district of Neuss. It starts south of the Erft river near Insel Hombroich and ends in Rommerskirchen. Flanked by large trees and numerous shrubs, the path has been widened in five locations for bus stops that were never installed.
In 1999, the decision to create a sculpture path along this former railway embankment was inspired in part by its proximity to the sculpture halls at the Kulturzentrum Sinsteden — where Ulrich Rückriem’s work has been on permanent display since 1994. At the time, the landscape was still largely comprised of undeveloped nature, offering brief views of highly varied terrain. With that in mind, the artist selected seven slabs of pink granite that had been extracted from the quarry in 1997 and placed them at large intervals along the path.
Each element has a similar formal design: a rectangular stele divided into four distinct parts by horizontal rows of boreholes. The bottom quarter of the stone is embedded in the ground, serving as the foundation and low pedestal for the three rectangular cubes stacked on top of it. It is clear to viewers that all of these monolithic stelae are made of the same stone.
Nonetheless, the seven stelae are not conceived as a group and can’t be viewed together. The distance between them is so great that they must be discovered along the route from Rommerskirchen to Helpenstein, a small town in Neuss where Rückriem spent his childhood.
In this way, each of the sculptures stands on its own, finding a balance with the surrounding nature while not overburdening it. As highlighted in comparison to the other similar granite stelae, each sculpture’s specific set of characteristics creates a distinct accent on the landscape.

Further reading: Ulrich Rückriem, Bahndamm, Verlag Walther König, ISBN 3-88375-699-7


Ulrich Rückriem

1938
geboren in Düsseldorf; lebt und arbeitet in Köln.
1957–1959
Steinmetzlehre in Düren.
1960–1961
Geselle an der Kölner Dombauhütte.
seit 1968
Steinskulpturen.
1969
arbeitete Ulrich Rückriem in einem gemeinsamen Atelier mit Blinky Palermo in Mönchengladbach.
1963–1971
Arbeit im Schloss Nörvenich, in Clonegal, County Carlow, Irland, und in der Normandie.
1972
Teilnahme an der Documenta 5 in Kassel.
1974
Professur an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg.
1978
Teilnahme an der Biennale in Venedig.
1982
Teilnahme an der Documenta 7.
1984
Professur an der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
1987
Teilnahme an der Documenta 8.
1988
Professur an der Städelschule, Frankfurt.
1992
Teilnahme an der Documenta 9.
1994
Eröffnung der „Skulpturen-Hallen Ulrich Rückriem“ in Rommerskirchen-Sinsteden.
1998
Piepenbrock-Preis für Skulptur in Berlin.

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Location
Neuss
Railroad embankment between Rommerskirchen and Neuss
Artist
Ulrich Rückriem
Year
1997
Size
Visible height: 2.90 m
Material
Spanish porrino granite, 7 parts
Kunst im öffentlichen Raum NRW