The origins of the \u201cD\u00fcsseldorfer Radschl\u00e4ger\u201d (D\u00fcsseldorf Cartwheelers) tradition are surrounded by a host of legends. What is verifiable is that children discovered turning cartwheels for tourists as a source of income at the end of the 19th century, when many travellers visited the city. Although there are several artworks depicting this tradition, Friedrich Becker created the best-known motif of a stylised cartwheeler, much reproduced and varied ever since. He first used it in 1958 as links in the Lord Mayor\u2019s chain of office, in 1960 as a door handle for St. Lambertus Church and around 1995 as a sculpture for the Schadow Arcades. The latter is a cube assembled from the silhouettes of six cartwheeling children, each filling one side of the cube. The cube is mounted on a steel rod at one corner so that the movements of cartwheeling and rolling a dice merge into a dynamic whole.
\nToday, the stylised shape of the cartwheeler is one of the emblems of the City of D\u00fcsseldorf, which, however, has led to copyright disputes with numerous imitators.<\/p>\n