Ironworker

The statue made of cast bronze on a black wooden base is around 72 cm high. It shows a man with whiskers clad in the protective clothing of the ironworks: he wears a hat and a long leather apron, with a long-sleeved shirt underneath. His posture is upright, while his gaze is serious and intently fixed ahead. At the man’s feet, an iron bloom lies, which he grips with long iron tongs. The model for the figure of the ironworker was Friedrich Bengener (1859-1939), who worked in the Sieghütter hammer mill. The bronze sculptures of the miner ‘Henner’ and the smelter ‘Frieder’ symbolise the history of ore mining and the steel and iron industry in Siegen and the surrounding region. The sculptor and university lecturer Friedrich Reusch probably designed the figures in 1889. The sculptures in the Siegerlandmuseum’s collection were presumably cast in 1893. ‘Henner’ and ‘Frieder’ now also fulfil their function as creating identity in a different way: since 2019, they can be seen on Siegen’s pedestrian traffic lights.