Gottfried Kohl exhibition in the open air

We start the walk at the eastern entrance to Freiberg's Donatsfriedhof cemetery (Am Ostbahnhof street). After entering the cemetery, we immediately turn left and a short time later we are at the Kohl family grave. The stone to the grave previously served as the gravestone for the final resting place of Freiberg artist Paul Missbach (*25.06.1859 in Großenhain - †02.10.1912 in Freiberg).

We walk west along the main path, turn right after about 50 meters and leave the cemetery via the side gate. The Donat Cemetery has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Ore Mountains/Krušnohoří Mining Region since 2019.

We walk along Himmelfahrtsgasse towards the city center, turn into Scheunenstraße and walk to the end of the street and stand for our next destination: the Bergfrieden celebration hall. There is a bronze relief on the outside wall. It depicts the "Last Shift" and any mining expert will recognize the model, Eduard Heuchler.

Inside the hall, the artist has tried his hand at a stained glass design, depicting a mining official of the Saxon silver mining industry from around 1853. It is one of several pictures through which "natural" light falls into the hall and one of which is shown at the request of the mourners.

Between the allotment site and the last home, we take a path that leads across the meadow and reach Conradsdorfer Weg. We follow this out of town until there is a footpath on the left between the homes. We use this and at the end we see Halsbrücker Straße, on which we walk out of town again. In front of the administration building of the DBI (German Fuel Institute) is the memorial to the researchers of the DBI. In the park behind the office building, a sculpture of storks is installed by a small pond.

Return towards the city center via Halsbrücker Straße. After crossing the Meißner Ring, take the footpath and cycle path on the right next to the road. After a few meters, you will see the monument to the Hamburg workers' leader Ernst Thälmann. The plinth for the bust and the border of the flowerbed were designed by Hans-Georg Neumuth. The same bust stood in the courtyard at Straße des Friedens 50 (now Chemnitzer Straße) until 1990.

We walk along the city wall in the green belt of the old town. Before the pedestrian crossing, you have a good view of part of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg campus. In this area, directly between the canteen and the former library, oversized wooden doors were erected in 1978. These were connected by metal parts that referred to important teachers at the academy in writing and relief. As the wood was no longer stable, the monument was dismantled and put into storage before the turn of the century. A promise made by those responsible that it would be included in the Freiberg Old Town - Campus link has not yet been implemented.

We use the gap in the city wall on Geschwister-Scholl-Straße to enter the old town. The destination is Untermarkt. Here it is the Gerberbrunnen fountain and the two plaques at the entrance to Gerberpasse, created by Gottfried Kohl on behalf of the Lions Club and the building owner. On the Hermes plaque, the typical Kohl marking of his works is clearly visible at the bottom right - "K" and the year, in this case K94.

We leave Untermarkt via Moritzstraße, to the left of the cathedral. In the row of houses opposite the cathedral cloister is the penguin sculpture with three animals in the Mette dentist's house (house no. 18). They are supposed to represent a visit to the doctor. The one in front is the patient who comes to the doctor with an ailment. The penguin on the left represents the doctor who helps and the patient leaves the practice with his head held high. But there is another way. The back penguin comes to the doctor in a happy mood and after the diagnosis he leaves the surgery with his head hanging down.

At the next junction, we turn left into Domgasse, then left into Thielestraße, follow Heubnerstraße downhill and walk through Buttermarktgasse, which takes us to the square in front of St. Nicholas' Church. Opposite the church is the main entrance to Freiberg's municipal theater. When the doors are open, we can see it in the foyer - the slender lovers in bronze.

At the theater, we walk down Enge Gasse on the left to the end, turn left into Burgstraße/Erbische Straße and see the Klatschweiberbrunnen fountain on the right next to the town hall gable.

We walk along Erbische Straße to the end, cross the Platz der Oktoberopfer and see the striking Sparkasse building on our left - our next destination.

Several of the artist's works await us in the main building of Sparkasse Mittelsachsen. We simply continue straight ahead along Erbische Straße and at the end of the street, at Platz der Oktoberopfer, we see the main building opposite on the left. In the reception hall, we encounter the first figure - the dreamer. In order to see the other three works by the Freiberg artist, you must have access to the building's service rooms. In the middle of the courtyard, one of the largest works created by Kohl, is a money column that deserves to be in another, more visible place. We have already seen the storks in a larger form on the walk in the DBI park. The Uzbek's big "brother" will greet us in Friedeburg.

We leave the Sparkasse building and turn left into Poststraße, at the end of which we turn into Bahnhofstraße, which we follow until we reach the vocational school after about 300 meters. Directly at the front of Bahnhofstraße, we see the Freiberg city coat of arms on the façade and further stonework by Gottfried Kohl in the entrance area. These include the door jambs and guild signs of the craftsmen.

We walk back along Bahnhofstraße, turn left into Langestraße, cross Roter Weg, walk through Körnerstraße, cross the B173 and reach Fischerstraße.

At the Lomonossowhaus, Fischerstraße 39/41, there is a cast iron plaque commemorating the Russian polymath Michael W. Lomonossow, who was taught here by the chemist and mining consultant Henckel in 1739/40. The design for this plaque is attributed to Gottfried Kohl.

We continue along Fischerstraße. Our next destination is the Bergbier in the Hotel Kreller, Fischerstraße 5. In order to be able to look at the relief in peace and quiet, you should and can take a break here at Kreller's with a good Freiberg beer. The famous Freiberg architect, teacher and artist Eduard Heuchler was also the inspiration for this bronze mural.

Well fortified, we leave the hotel.

We walk back along Fischerstraße and turn into Korngasse. At the end of the lane, we follow Petersstraße briefly to the right. On the opposite house to the left of the street, we see a bismuth miner above the first floor on the corner of the house.

We follow the row of houses on Obermarkt and at the end turn into Waisenhausstraße and then immediately right into Nonnengasse. At the very end, we are on Schlossplatz and opposite our next object.

Through the Albertpark opposite, across Königsallee, past the ponds and the fountain, we reach Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Straße. After the indoor swimming pool, turn left into Lessingstraße and then right into the zoo. In the park, in addition to the 4 bronze sculptures, there is also a memorial plaque to Gottfried Kohl, which was placed in front of the administration building with the fighting rams.

We leave the park via the opposite gate on Goethestraße, cross the road and follow the footpath through the former Pionierpark (also known as Ludwig-Renn-Park). We keep right on Claußalle and immediately follow the footpath to the left into the Friedeburg residential area. At Paul-Müller-Straße, we keep right and after a few meters we are in front of the figure of the singing and riding Uzbek.

We return to Claußalle and follow it out of town along the railroad line. We use the first possible crossing and on Brückenstraße we turn right between the allotments into the road towards the forest. We follow this road into the forest and cross the Freiberg/Nossen railroad line. Directly at the end of the forest, we turn right before the gardens and use the path between them and the forest. At the end of the gardens, we see the rear of the "Ferne Siechen" retirement home. We enter the grounds and in the park at the front we are greeted by another bronze figure of Kohl - the girl with the doll.

After crossing the B173, Chemnitzer Straße, we see a paved roundabout on the left in front of the high-rise buildings, right at the intersection. The crystal fountain stood in the middle of this until 2018. The fountain had to be dismantled for safety reasons.

Directly behind the high-rise buildings, we turn into Straße der Einheit. After the children's facility, we use the footpath by the mill pond and see a bronze lying between the pond and the residential buildings.

Before the school, we turn right on the footpath and keep left on the road by the mill pond. It stands in a small group of trees on Albert-Einstein-Straße, the proud father with the child. The sculpture was cast at VEB Lauchhammer, as is noted on the base.

We head into town via Albert-Einstein-Straße. We turn right into Max-Planck-Straße and left along the forest path. On the right, we can already see the Park of Generations, where the Wedding of the Cranes has found its third "festival site".

We reach our final destination by crossing the park, heading into the city on Tschaikowskistraße and reaching the Ernst-Grube-Halle. Here we are greeted by the girls playing ball - and they give us a hearty cheer! Because we have made it - we have visited an interesting and unique exhibition by the artist Gottfried Kohl in Freiberg.