The Golden Bird
A gilded winged car has crowned the tower of Cologne's Zeughaus since 1991 – an artwork by HA Schult and Elke Koska.
since 1989
High above the roofs of Cologne's old town sits a gilded car with outstretched wings. The Golden Bird, popularly known as the „winged car", has crowned the staircase tower of the listed Zeughaus since 1991.
At a Glance
- Type
- Artwork / landmark (gilded winged car)
- Artists
- HA Schult (concept and design) and Elke Koska (realisation)
- Created
- 1989, as part of the „Fetisch Auto" campaign
- On site since
- 25 April 1991, atop the Zeughaus tower
- Address
- Zeughausstraße 1, Cologne old town
- Base
- a stripped-down Ford Fiesta, built in 1989
- Dimensions
- 6.20 m long, 10 m wide, 3.50 m high
- Weight
- four tonnes (without substructure)
Age comparison
Age compared with other places in Cologne.
The „Fetisch Auto" Campaign
Over two weeks in April 1989, HA Schult and Elke Koska turned brand-new Ford Fiestas into artworks at various sites across Cologne. Announced as an „event puzzle of eleven dramatic image tableaux", it included a car made of ice, one decorated as an „Easter egg", one floating on the Rhine as a „wave", and one suspended from a helicopter as a „cloud" above the city. The vehicles were funded by Cologne's Ford works to mark the 60th anniversary of the plant. The Golden Bird was one of these „puzzle pieces" and initially stood temporarily atop the tower of the Stapelhaus.
The Journey to the Zeughaus Tower
According to HA Schult, the winged car was so popular with the people of Cologne that they wanted it back. In 1991 the Ford works donated the piece to the support association of the Cologne City Museum, which is based in the Zeughaus. On 25 April 1991 it was installed on the octagonal staircase tower, where – aside from two brief restoration phases – it has remained as a landmark.
Engineering and Construction
For the Golden Bird, a Ford Fiesta was gutted, weighted with 1.2 tonnes of railway tracks in the engine bay and lined with several layers of epoxy resin. The two wings weigh 800 kilograms each and are made of glass-fibre-reinforced polyester resin. The golden surface is a coating of zinc chromate and acrylic metallic lacquer. To support the four-tonne object on the tower, which stands over 23 metres tall, the structure was reinforced across two floors by a „king post". According to the artist, the construction is designed to withstand temperatures from −50 °C to 100 °C and winds up to hurricane force.
The Heritage-Protection Dispute
The location was contested for many years. District president Franz-Josef Antwerpes, whose authority was based directly opposite, objected early on: a listed public building, he argued, should not be altered in this way, especially as the installation had gone ahead without the heritage conservator's approval. The row dragged on for years, was perceived nationally as a „Cologne farce", and initially led to an interim solution scheduling removal by the end of 1998. Only under a later district president, Jürgen Roters – who regarded the work as a successful „union of new art with historic building fabric" – did the bird's stay become permanent through regularly renewed permits.
Good to Know
The city of Cologne used the winged car motif in its advertising from at least 1993. According to a 2003 survey by the University of Cologne, the Golden Bird ranked third among „the best-known monuments of Cologne". The car has been taken down twice for repairs: in 2005 and – due to defects in the tower and the base plate – in November 2012, before returning to its established place in April 2013.
Timeline
- 1989Created as part of the „Fetisch Auto" art campaign by HA Schult and Elke Koska
- 1991Installed on the Zeughaus staircase tower on 25 April
- 2012Removed due to defects in the tower and base plate
- 2013Returned to its established place in April
Gallery
Map
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Address
Zeughausstraße 1
50667 Köln
Hours
So: 00:00–24:00
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Sources & links
- Official website
- Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-07-18, rev 267827370)
- Wikidata (retrieved 2026-07-18)
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-07-18
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