Düsseldorf's cartwheeler

In 1945, after the war-evacuated Jan-Wellem monument was brought back to the city, not only torches and fanfare accompanied it, but also cartwheeling boys.

The tradition is notably kept alive by the Alde Düsseldorf civil society of 1920, who conducted the first cartwheeler competition on 17 October 1937.

Since 1971, it was held annually by boys and girls in June on the Königsallee, and since 2006 on the Rheinwerft below the old town and has become an integral part in the Düsseldorf event program.

In 2001, the project Radschläger-Kunst (Cartwheeler-Art) started, consisting in the creation of over 100 cartwheeler sculptures by professional and amateur artists.

The sculptures, which used Saint Lambertus Church door knockers as a starting model, are two meters high and wide and have a depth of 30 centimeters.