:D Düsseldorf's cartwheelers
Cartwheeling is considered the oldest tradition in the City of Düsseldorf
and has developed into one of its symbols. It is depicted on many souvenirs
and found in many names throughout the city:
History of cartwheeling
The tradition is supposed to go back as far as 1288 when Düsseldorf received
the town charter after the Battle of Worringen against the archbishop of
Cologne and the kids were doing "turns of joy".
Cartwheeling song
"För ne Fenning (Penning), do schlag ech et rad, dat wähd ech zeläwe nit satt,
on för dä Fenning (Penning) do koof ech mech wat, för ne Fenning (Penning),
do schlag ech et Rad."
Source: Alde Düsseldorfer
(Just for a penny I'll do a cartwheel – I'll enjoy this for life and for the
penny I'll buy myself something. Just for a penny I'll do a cartwheel.)
Cartwheel door knocker on a church
The template for all the cartwheel sculptures was taken from a famous
Düsseldorf church.
Cartwheel-Fountain
The fountain was designed by Alfred Zschorsch in 1954 after a donation by the
"Düsseldorfer Jonges" (a local men’s club upholding traditions). It can be
found in the Central District. On the edge the inscription reads: "Radschläger
wolle mer blieve, wie jeck et de Minsche och drieve". We want to remain
cartwheelers and will disregard people’s crazy behaviour.
Cartwheel tournament
The Cartwheel tournament has been held in Düsseldorf every year since 1937.
Children do cartwheels and are judged on speed and style. A cartwheel
tournament has been held every year since 1937. Children spin wagon wheels
and are judged on speed and style. Girls have also competed since 1971. In
recent years, the number of participants has reached around 700 girls and
boys from 15 nations. There is even a separate race track for this.
The project "cartwheelers art" was begun in the year 2001 during which over
100 sculptures of cartwheelers were designed by artists, both professional
and amateurs. The sculptures are 2 m high and wide and have a depth of 30 cm.
They were distributed throughout the city and only a small number was
auctioned to companies or private parties at the end of the year.
There is only a portion of the original 100 cartwheelers left in Düsseldorf
and there are some peculiarities to report about them: there are 2 identical
ones within the city limits, there is a female one and another one where you
can twist and turn the upper part independently from the lower part.
Some cartwheelers even moved a long way from Düsseldorf: on 21st April 2009
the "Düsseldorf Park" was inaugurated in Moscow, one of Düsseldorf’s twin
cities, by Lord Mayor Dirk Elbers. One sculpture was sent over to Moscow
specifically for that reason. There is another cartwheeler in Chemnitz.
The following map shows the distribution of the cartwheelers in the city:
Final formula:
This picture shows 30 different heads of cartwheeler’s sculptures. Every
digit in the final coordinates can alternatively by calculated by 3 different
heads. Therefore, you do not have to look up all of them, maybe you even know
some of them by heart? Some are rather famous, most of them are found in
front yards, others are harder to find or are inside a building. But with
the provided map this feat should not prove too difficult.
When you come across a cartwheeler, look it up on the map and note down the
corresponding value. Exchange the head in the formula and carry out the maths
(add or subtract) as shown besides the head. This gives you the final digit.
Note: three items in the picture are marked with a red
! markiert. This means that you
are not looking for a 2 m sculpture, but for a door knocker, a fountain or
the cartwheel course for the tournaments (see background information about
the cache). But you’ll find that for sur...
When you come across further cartwheelers that are not yet listed in the
map: the owner will be pleased to receice a mail with coordinates and a
picture if possible.
We hope you enjoy the search – Fit_and_Fun and all of the :D-Team
Whether you have come to the right conclusions – you can check it here:
