Discus Thrower

History of the work

In the middle of the Marzili baths, north of the pool for non-swimmers, a young bronze man winds up for a throw. Max Fueter made the 'Diskuswerfer' between 1932 and 1934. The figure originally crowned a fountain by the former men's bathing area. According to Commons and Wikidata that fountain has been dismantled; the statue survived and now stands about 200 metres further south. Wikidata also records an inscription commemorating Mayor Gustav Müller as a promoter of the Aare baths.

People have bathed at the Marzili for centuries; according to Wikipedia the first written reference dates from 1619. The present complex grew in several stages. In 1968 the side arm of the Aare was largely filled in and the 50-metre pool was added. The city's building inventory describes the operations and restaurant building of 1969/70 and the right-angled grid that pools and paths followed at that time. In 2025 voters approved a loan for a complete renovation, scheduled to last until the 2029 bathing season.

Fueter, born on 6 March 1898, grew up from 1907 to 1914 in the Burgerliches Waisenhaus, an orphanage of Bern's burgher community, entered the trade school in 1918 and modelled there with his friend Karl Geiser. From 1926 to 1929 he worked in Berlin, then in Rome on a grant. SIKART calls the human figure his lifelong theme and reads the beautiful body in his work as an image of an ideal human being, citing the 'Diskuswerfer' first. The lexicon also places his work within the 'spiritual national defence' of those years.

Not far away in the Marzili stands Fueter's 'Grosser Pan' (Great Pan) of 1943, erected in 1964. Fueter died in Bern on 29 September 1983. Walking around the thrower, you see the twist of the body that the throw demands look different from every side.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · SIKART: Max Fueter · Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Max Fueter · Wikipedia (de): Max Fueter · Wikipedia (de): Marzilibad · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Marzilistrasse 29 · Wikidata: Abgegangener Brunnen Marzilibad / Diskuswerfer · Wikimedia Commons: Abgegangener Brunnen Marzilibad