In 1812, the Swedish government approved Pehr Henrik Ling\u2019s application to teach gymnastics in Stockholm and receive a salary and premises through state assistance. Ling had developed a comprehensive system that included pedagogical (physical education), aesthetic (dance), military (fencing) and medical (physiotherapy) gymnastics; with the purpose of raising the physical fitness and health of the military and the general population.<\/p>\n
Ling founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics (RCIG)<\/a> in 1813 and was given premises in a disused cannon foundry just north of the city \u2013 located at Hamngatan 19. From this unassuming location arose a powerful global force in exercise and health during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It has subsequently been described as Sweden\u2019s greatest cultural export (Lundquist-Wanneberg, 2015). Not least, was its contribution to the formation of the physical education and physiotherapy professions.<\/p>\n As Stockholm rapidly grew the RCIG\u2019s location on Hamgatan became more central and the land upon which it stood, more valuable. Following the Second World War, the now-named \u2018GIH \u2013 Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences\u2019 (both physiotherapy and military physical education had been earlier removed) was relocated further north onto a rocky hill overlooking the Olympic Stadium \u2013 built for the 1912 Games (Kierkegaard, 2015).<\/p>\n The Hamgatan, and nearby, buildings were ultimately razed and Sergels torg (Sergel\u2019s square), a public plaza, constructed in the 1960s. It was named after 18th century sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, whose workshop was once located north of the square. Sergel\u2019s torg is today the primary plaza for the city. Surrounded by cultural, commercial and retail buildings, and containing an underground mall and metro station, it is a popular space for meeting friends, holding political demonstrations and celebrating national sporting victories.<\/p>\n In preparation for its 175th anniversary in 1988 the GIH raised funds for a memorial sculpture to be placed at Sergel\u2019s torg \u2013 at the site of the RCIG\u2019s original location. Commissioned sculptor Peter Linde (2025) recalled being provided with pictures of the starting positions for ten of Ling\u00b4s exercises as ideas for the sculpture. He explained his choice,<\/p>\n I considered that since the spot where the sculpture should stand, was right in the middle of Stockholm\u2019s most stressful place, Segels Torg, with a lot of traffic all day long, I found position number 2 (as far as I remember that was the number) the most calm and meditative of them all! Looking almost like a Yoga meditative position! The place needed something calm, I thought!\u201d<\/p>\n Cross legged girl statue on plinth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The bronze sculpture, titled \u2018Korssittande Flicka\u2019 (Cross-Legged Girl), was placed on a plinth on the sidewalk of Hamngatan, just east of the Kulturhuset (House of Culture) (GIH 200 \u00e5r, 2013). The statue\u2019s inscription translates to,<\/p>\n Here was the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics In reality, the girl\u2019s cross-legged sitting position is an exercise from Elin Falk\u2019s book, \u201cDay Exercises for Stockholm Elementary Schools\u201d (Plaque, 2013). Falk was a graduate of the RCIG in 1895. She spent the first few years of her career working abroad, initially as a gymnastics teacher and physiotherapist at the Young Women\u2019s Christian Association in Baltimore, USA. Falk went on to hold similar positions in Britain and Denmark, before returning to Sweden in 1898. She became a gymnastics inspector at public schools in 1910 and continued in this role until her retirement in 1932.<\/p>\n Elin Falk<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Falk developed special exercises for children in schools, designed to be fun and engaging. Her work included more natural and rhythmic postural exercises that contradicted the military-style and \u2018stiffer\u2019 Swedish gymnastics of the time (Carlquist, 1940). The publication of her book \u2018Gymnastikfr\u00e5gan vid Stockholms folkskolor\u2019 (The Gymnastics Issue in Stockholm\u2019s Primary Schools) in 1913 led to controversy in the conservative world of Swedish gymnastics and gave rise to what the press called, \u201cthe Gymnastics Battle at Stockholm Elementary Schools\u201d (Lundquist-Wanneberg, 2015). Nevertheless her work ultimately gained favour.<\/p>\n Reconstruction work in and around Sergels torg saw the statue placed into temporary storage (Kierkegaard, 2025). On 11 June 2018 the City Museum became aware that one of their storage warehouses<\/span> had been burgled (Lodding, 2018). The Cross-legged Girl and three other missing statues were reported to the police and the artists notified. The City Museum was pessimistic about the chances of getting the works back suspecting that they may have been melted down.<\/p>\n Prior to the theft, to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2013 the GIH commissioned a smaller replica of the Cross-legged Girl\u2019 statue and placed it in their library. However the original statue\u2019s whereabouts remain unknown and with her absence the location of the original RCIG of Pehr Henrik Ling is lost to the world.<\/p>\n Carlquist M. (1940). With the least possible tension: The governing principle of a development of Ling\u2019s gymnastics. Health and Physical Education, 11(1), 6-10, 53-54.GIH. (2013).<\/p>\n GIH 200 \u00e5r: Svensk Kunskap, H\u00e4lsa och kraft. [GIH 200 years: Swedish knowledge, health and strength]. (2013). GIH. Translated by ChatGPT.<\/p>\n Kierkegaard S (Ed). (2025). GIH\u2019s building history. Website of the GIH \u2013 Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. Accessed online at https:\/\/www.gih.se\/om-gih\/var-historia\/gihs-byggnadshistoria.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Linde P. (2025). Personal communication.<\/p>\nThe Statue<\/h4>\n
\n1813 \u2013 1944
\nPehr Henrik Ling was the founder<\/em><\/p>\nStolen<\/h4>\n
References<\/h4>\n