30 years ago today, on April 25, 1991, the winged car was erected on Cologne’s Zeughaus as part of the “Fetish Car” art campaign by artist HA Schult. Naturally, there was a lot of discussion about the whole project and also about the car on the listed Zeughaus. Most people in Cologne liked it, except for Franz-Josef Antwerpes, who sat directly opposite in the regional council, as opinionated and argumentative as ever, already legendary when he was in office, and who now had to look out of his office window at the car every day. Antwerpes fought vehemently against the installation and, as a representative of the higher monument authority, prohibited the alteration of the monument by the Golden Bird. The dispute was fought out for months with a great deal of press coverage. Finally, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as the highest monument authority, announced a legally binding interim solution, according to which the winged car was allowed to remain in place until the end of 1998. When nothing had happened by the end of 1998, the district president gave the city council an ultimatum, otherwise he would have the vehicle removed from the building himself. However, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia extended the temporary permission by decree, and so the winged car has been standing in the tower of the city museum for 30 years. Although somehow temporary, for the people of Cologne it has long been part of the cityscape.
