The forgotten man who draws an armbow

The Armbowman (Bågspännaren) is a sculpture standing tall on Kornhamnstorg in Gamla stan, Stockholm. It is the work of Christian Eriksson and dates back to 1916. The statue depicts a man drawing an armbow, but the story behind it is far from ordinary. This statue is part of a pair in Stockholm, with the other being located near Stockholm City Hall. The initial plan was for it to be part of a larger group of statues erected in Falun, but it was rejected due to being deemed too 'abstract' and not conventionally heroic enough.

It was eventually placed in Stockholm instead. Two more copies of the statue were later placed in Rottneros Sculpture Park and at Gammelgården, Stora Tuna (Borlänge). Sadly, the latter was stolen in 2020. The statue was created as a tribute to Gösta Fagerlind, a teacher at a folk school in Arvika who was a friend of the artist. A relief of the statue can also be found on a memorial stone on Södra Djurgården, erected by Djurgårdens IF in 1955, and it is featured on some internal plaques and medals within Djurgårdens IF.

The statue is also prominently featured in a relief on a memorial stone on Södra Djurgården, erected by Djurgårdens IF in 1955 to commemorate the organization's early days, when ski jumping was held in the area near Skansen. A similar figure, possibly inspired by the Armbowman statue by Christian Eriksson, was featured in a campaign poster for the right-wing party prior to the 1914 riksdag elections. An armbow has been used as a symbol of the right-wing party and its youth wing for a long time.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons