Rathausmann, Dresden, Copper statue on New City Hall tower in Dresden, Germany

The Rathausmann is a 5.05-metre copper figure of Hercules standing on the tower of Dresden's New City Hall. He pours fruit from a cornucopia with one hand and points with the other toward the city below. The statue weighs 1,750 kg and is gilded with gold leaf.

Sculptor Richard Guhr designed the figure, modeled on Ewald Redam, Saxony's 1907 heavyweight and octathlon champion. A 2,300-kilogram plaster model was made at Raffael Pellicci's factory, and the copper figure was mounted on the New City Hall tower on 12 April 1908. After World War II, some mainly non-local voices unsuccessfully called for its removal because the raised right arm resembled the Hitler salute.

The figure shows Hercules holding a cornucopia in one hand while extending the other protectively over the city. This gesture expresses prosperity and blessing for Dresden, which visitors can recognize when looking up at the tower top.

The figure stands on the tower of the Neues Rathaus at Rathausplatz, facing the city; it is seen from below, so binoculars help with the raised arm and cornucopia. The tower itself is not open for climbing to the statue. The 5.05-metre figure was returned to the tower on 1 July 2006 after restoration in Berlin.

The 2006 regilding used 520 grams of 23.75-carat fourfold gold leaf worth 10,000 euros, applied by gilders Regina Lichtmaneker and Jessica Ulrich. The two-year restoration cost Dresden 230,000 euros and included removing 19 bullet holes from wartime. Filmmakers Bettina Wobst and Stefan Urlass documented the work in an 80-minute film, Goldene Hände.