This & That, Art & design

«Die Wächterin der Drei Bünde» am Mühleturm

30. October 2024

Six years after the first design, Chur mural artist Fabian "Bane" Florin has created a completely new work of art on the Mühleturm. With the "Guardian of the Three Leagues", the town has a landmark that can be seen from afar and is intended to stand for the strength of our community, for hope and trust as well as for progress and development.

In 2018, "Bane" and his team created the largest mural in Switzerland on the Mühleturm in Chur. An oversized crystal shone out into the city from a height of over 40 meters. Almost three years later, in October 2021, the crystal was replaced by a new motif. This was selected as part of a school competition in which over 1,000 pupils from Chur City School took part.

Since the Mühleturm was returned to its original concrete gray in September, a new mural by the urban artist has been created over a period of 7 weeks. At the center of his work is a female figure holding three light sources in her hands and wearing a blindfold. The sources of light symbolize the three confederations, whose union 500 years ago laid the foundation stone for today's canton of Graubünden and who assured each other of mutual help and support.

The light of hope

The glow is the light of hope, while the blindfold stands for trust. Trust in the future, in the strength and uniqueness of our community. The corn surrounding the guardian is processed in the mill tower. The corn, which came to the south of Switzerland via Italy and to the north via Germany, is also a symbol of immigration, which has always played a central role in the development and growth of the canton of Graubünden.

For Fabian "Bane" Florin, "Die Wächterin der Drei Bünde" also reflects the progress of his own artistic style, which he has developed over the years and which has been recognized on international walls. He has worked intensively on the subject of light and shadow in particular. "It was important to me to bring a part of myself into this work and at the same time to honor the values and uniqueness of Chur and Graubünden." Creating a lasting landmark for his home town and its people was simply a matter close to his heart.

"Bane" is one of the most important mural artists in Switzerland and Artistic Director of the Street Art Festival Chur. "With the new mural by 'Bane', we want to arouse international interest and further strengthen our positioning as the urban capital of the canton of Graubünden, which has been consistently implemented since 2018 with the Mühleturm and the Street Art Festival," says Mayor Urs Marti. "At this year's festival alone, 14 murals were created by national and international urban artists. 'Die Wächterin der Drei Bünde' fits seamlessly into the cityscape, which is already characterized by numerous impressive works of art."

Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.