Striking sculpture made for next year's Swiss-Wrestling Tournament unveiled

This striking wooden sculpture depicting two Swiss-wrestlers is the creation of local artist Stephan Schmidlin.

When the National Swiss-Wrestling Tournament and Alpine Festival (Esaf) takes place in the canton next year, it will be the first time that a specially commissioned sculpture will feature.

The sculpture, all ten tons of it, was presented to representatives of the press by the sculptor himself, along with other members of the organising committee, in Cham on Wednesday.

Schmidlin has been working on his creation in his studio on the former paper factory site for some time and its unveiling was the cause for some pride, and rightly so. Indeed, the chairman of the organising committee, cantonal government member and director of finance, Heinz Tännler, was clearly enamoured by it, referring to it as unique.

When Schmidlin initially heard that Esaf was to take place in the canton, he immediately thought of creating a sculpture for it, and raised the idea to Tännler, an old friend. When the politician mentioned it to the other members of the organising committee, they were a bit sceptical initially, wary of any increase in costs. Anyway, Tännler suggested to Schmidlin to just turn up at one meeting and present the idea, whereupon the committee was quite smitten.

In addition to the powerfully-built wrestlers depicted in the sculpture, a Swiss flag also features, a link between this traditional sport and the country. Schmidlin himself likes Swiss-wresting and mentioned how his father had sent him to a Swiss-wrestling club. “As I was so light, I was the most popular opponent,” he admitted, as he confessed to frequently having had to taste sawdust. As a result, he changed to athletics but remained a fan of Swiss-wrestling.

What was of great luck for the sculptor was the fact that a 130-year-old sequoia tree on the Nestlé site in Cham had become infected with a fungus and had to be felled, yet the quality of the wood was perfect for sculpting. Schmidlin still wants to make adjustments to the finer details of it, such as the wrestlers’ teeth and knee joints.

The next stage is for it to be painted, the Esaf logo to appear on it, too. Then, on Friday 9 August 2019 it will be unveiled to the public in all its glory by the victory podium on the Stierenmarkt, before being moved to a more central site at the tournament.

Thereafter it will be moved to another site in the city as yet undecided, but as Tännler insisted, somewhere central and prominent, perhaps on a roundabout. “What is sure is that it is will not be chopped up for firewood,” he joked.