The 7.50-meter-tall sculpture “The Crozier” by Heinrich Brummack explores the history of the episcopal symbol of the same name in the Roman Catholic Church. The work bears Martin Luther’s quote, “Excessive power is brought down by its own weight,” thus referring to the crosier’s transformation from a sign of ecclesiastical care to a symbol of secular power.
In 1072, the crosier was bestowed upon the Benedictine Abbey of Kloster Grafschaft as a reminder to provide for the faithful. As the Church’s secular influence grew, it evolved into a symbol of ecclesiastical power. In the wake of the secularization of 1803, the Church’s property and secular influence were lost—as was the monastery’s historic crozier.
Crafted from 2,613 kilograms of aluminum, the sculpture appears deliberately unstable in form and serves as a landmark visible from afar between Schmallenberg and Bad Berleburg.