World Art Utopia

The Caring Hand

Eva Oertli and Beat Huber's The Caring Hand: giant weathered concrete fingers rising from a lawn around the trunk of a tree, with fallen leaves on the grass.
Artwork FileGlarus, Switzerland

The Caring Hand

ReportedSep 2023

Eva Oertli and Beat Huber · Glarus

Artwork by Eva Oertli and Beat Huber. Image from Street Art Utopia; photographer and camera date unconfirmed.

The Caring Hand is five concrete fingers rising from the ground around a chestnut tree in the Volksgarten park in Glarus, made by sculptors Eva Oertli and Beat Huber in 2004, according to the artists and the town. It was meant to stand for four months, but private donors paid CHF 43,700 so the town could keep it. It was taken down for repairs in May 2023 and was back in place by September 2023. Source Source Source Reported

Reported Sep 2023 — evidence dated 2023-09-01. Südostschweiz reported on 1 September 2023 that the sculpture was back in the Volksgarten after repairs. Source Reported

💡 4 things to know

  1. Meant to be temporaryHuber says it was planned for the four months of the Skulptura 04 show, then donors raised CHF 43,700 to give it to the town. Source Reported
  2. An 800-kilo thumbSüdostschweiz reports that the heaviest finger is the thumb, at an estimated 800 kilograms. Source Reported
  3. A manicure in 2023The town took the hand fully apart for repairs on 22 May 2023; it was back in the Volksgarten from 1 September 2023. Source Source Reported
  4. A copy in AlabamaHuber says a copy made in Switzerland in 2023 now stands in the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, opened in March 2024. Source Reported

📍 Where it is

Volksgarten, Glarus, Switzerland. Source Source Reported

Open in Maps

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 202315 May

    Town announces full dismantling for repairs on 22 May

  2. 202315 May

    The concrete hand needs a 'manicure' · Südostschweiz

  3. 20231 Sep

    Back in the Volksgarten · Südostschweiz

  4. 202429 Jun

    Artist's page on Glarus and the Montgomery copy

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

Südostschweiz15 May 2023

“Der schwerste Finger sei der Daumen, der schätzungsweise rund 800 Kilogramm wiege”

The heaviest finger is the thumb, estimated at around 800 kilograms.

Read the source →

Südostschweiz1 September 2023

“Seit Freitag ist die Skulptur jetzt wieder im Volksgarten zu sehen.”

Since Friday the sculpture can be seen in the Volksgarten again.

Read the source →

The Guardian19 March 2024

“Eva Oertli and Beat Huber’s 2014 concrete sculpture, The Caring Hand, presents five giant fingers protruding from the earth around a tree”

Read the source →

✅ The facts

Artists
Eva Oertli and Beat Huber Source Checked
Year
2004 (the Guardian gives 2014) Source Conflicting
Made for
Skulptura 04 exhibition Source Checked
Scale
20:1 Source Checked
Material
Concrete Source Checked
Tree
A chestnut tree Source Reported
Location
Volksgarten, Glarus Source Checked
Copy
Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, Montgomery, Alabama (2024) Source Checked

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Last checked: 29 October 2026. How we verify art