Today, Karl Marx serves as something of a prophetic symbol, warning about the class divide between rich and poor. In this street art piece in Berlin, the philosopher is dressed as a bottle collector, bag in hand, with a T-shirt that reads: "I told you how to change the world." Of course, it's never as easy as it's made out to be.

A number of infamous political heirs to Marx's communist ideas have included the likes of Joseph Stalin, who manipulated these theories to justify a reign of terror against his perceived enemies. Marx is seen here displayed in April 1969 at the ninth annual Party meeting for China's Communist Party, alongside his spiritual collaborators and heirs Engels, Lenin and Stalin.

That's how it works with theories: they can be re-interpreted and misused. Marx would not have been enthusiastic about being appropriated by a dictator and mass murderer like Mao Tse Tung. Marx's ideas may have been revolutionary, but he preferred, if possible, a moderate approach to their implementation.

While the ongoing homage to the philosopher in his hometown of Trier is understandable, Marx himself might question why some other more egregious world figures are constantly celebrated next to him. Here a Marx figure is pictured alongside those of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Tse Tung during Labour Day on May 1, 2017 in the Philippine capital Manila as protesters demanded workers rights.

Marx has been similarly exploited in the Indian state of Kerala on the tropical Malabar coast (Arabian Sea), where he was once again staged alongside Lenin and the tyrant Stalin. Incidentally, when India's Communists split in 1964, CPI (M) emerged from the CPI Communist Party: the "M" stands for Marxist.

Although communism has historically been compromised and often associated with oppression, Marx's idea of a classless society has since remained a universal guiding political principle around the world. In this image, Lenin, Marx and Engels adorn a billboard at a demonstration on Labor Day in Sri Lanka in 2012.

After the Cuban Revolution, the largest theater in the country with 8,000 seats was renamed after Karl Marx in 1959. Cuba's music stars perform here, and in 2017 the political leadership celebrated the 100th anniversary of the October socialist revolution.

He may share Marx' beard, but Santa Claus is a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas — and thus of capitalism. The urban myth that Santa was invented by a certain large US soda manufacturer is played on here by a street artist in São Paulo, who has turned Marx himself into a red giver of a different kind of gift, namely a proletarian revolution.

The Beijing branch of the Madame Tussauds' waxworks depicts the philosopher in a much more appropriate manner: as a thinker with alert eyes, ready to argue his positions. With glasses and outstretched tongue, it could just as well be Albert Einstein.

There is one place in the world where no concept is too strange to honor the philosopher. In his hometown of Trier, the marketing of their famous son is nonstop. In 2013, a conceptual artist installed 500 fairly representative Marx figures in front of the Porta Nigra, the city's Roman landmark. More unusual homages are in the works for this year's 200th birthday celebration ...

... including the newly introduced pedestrian light figures who take on the thinker's uniform and beard. He's not only seen in red, as above, but also in green. But that is not enough. Trier really wants to cash in on the anti-capitalist, for example, with ...

... rubber duckies, replete with Marx's masterpiece, "Das Kapital," in their hands. Other souvenirs include mouse pads with the phrase "Karl has sent you a friend request. The question remains: have the people of Trier always been so excited about their hometown hero or do they still feel insulted that he turned his back on them so soon after leaving school?

A great thinker was born in a small house (center): the philosopher and economist Karl Marx (1818-1883). His birthplace is now a museum. Chinese travel groups in particular like to visit birthplace of the co-author of the "Communist Manifesto".

The landmark of Trier, however, is the Porta Nigra, the Roman city gate which dates from 170 and was not given the name "Black Gate" until the Middle Ages, when the sandstone had darkened. The Porta Nigra is one of many monumental buildings left behind by the Romans in Trier.

The Romans founded "Augusta Treverorum" in 16 BC, making Tier the oldest city in Germany. The bridge over the Moselle was one of the first structures to be built by them. Even today its size and stability withstand modern traffic use.

Trier developed into the largest ancient city north of the Alps. Subsequently one of the largest thermal baths in the Roman Empire was built here. Inside there was a cold and a hot bath room, steam baths, massage rooms and underground heating passages. The high-tech world of antiquity!

A hobby archaeologist in 1993 made a sensational discovery in Trier: 2516 gold coins depicting 40 Roman emperors and their relatives. It is the largest Roman gold treasure in the world. It can be seen in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier. The current value of the treasure is estimated at about 3 million euros, though the honest finder received only 10,000 euros.

In ancient times only the really rich metropolises could afford an amphitheater and Trier was one of them. Up to 20,000 people followed the bloody gladiatorial games here. No other German city can boast so many Roman buildings, a clear case for UNESCO! Since 1986 Trier has been listed as part of the world cultural heritage of mankind.

As early as 313 Trier became a bishop's seat and it is here that the construction of a mighty church complex began. The foundations of St. Peter's Cathedral, one of the oldest and most magnificent in Germany, was built in the year 1000.

In 958 Trier was granted market rights. At the main market, the center of the medieval town is where you'll find the oldest pharmacy in Germany: the Löwenapotheke is mentioned in a deed of donation of 1214.

The Frankenturm is named after one of its inhabitants, the noble Franco von Senheim. Since the 11th century, the defiant walls served to defend the city. And the material comes - how could it be otherwise - from Roman buildings. In Trier there were eight such fortified residential towers, only three of which remain to this day.

The Renaissance and the Rococo period also left their mark on Trier: in the 17th and 18th centuries, the archbishops and electors of Trier resided in this festive palace. In the background: the huge Constantine basilica, another greeting from the Romans to their descendants!