Marienbrunnen

In Germany, Marienbrunnen brings sculpture, flowing water, and civic history together on a public square. It rises above an eight-sided basin. At the summit, a rare sandstone double figure joins two Marys back to back, facing north and south. One carries the Christ Child, while the other prays above a serpent and globe.

The northern figure wears a closed crown-like headdress and holds the golden-haloed Child. The southern figure wears a leafy crown and ring of stars. A shared halo of rays links these contrasting Marian traditions above the Corinthian-inspired capital. Four water pipes emerge from faun heads below.

The visible shaft, copied in 1983 from Kaspar Vogt the Elder’s Renaissance original, supports this double image. Cast iron replaced the former stone trough in 1776. Ten heraldic panels surround the basin, including the town arms and nine belonging to civic officials. Joseph Dapp designed the reliefs, whose crowns, lions, arrows, birds, and plants preserve civic power in iron. On the southern panel, an angel holds an eagle and unicorn beneath the date 1776.