Eselsbrunnen (hall)
The Eselsbrunnen is on the old market of the city of Halle (Saale) . It was completed in 1913 and is now one of the most famous fountains in the city.
Location and history
The name of the square "Alter Markt" reminds us that Halle's market square was located here in the early Middle Ages . At the foot of the Michaelis Chapel, which no longer exists today, refreshing water is said to have flowed from a water pipe into a so-called tubular fountain as early as 1480 . The fountain was decorated with a male stone figure in 1593. This system was replaced by a simple zinc well in 1868.
The fountain
In 1905 a merchant (Martick), whose office building had been on the Alter Markt for half a century, donated a large amount of money to build a new, more durable fountain. A two-shell fountain system made of cast concrete in Art Nouveau forms was built . In 1906 the complex was basically completed, but the crowning jewelery was still missing. The Halle sculptor Heinrich Keiling (* 1856; † 1940) finally emerged as the winner from a competition.
His sculpture of bronze reaches a very popular in Halle forecast on. This tells of the miller's boy and his donkey, both of whom are unknowingly honored. They walk over roses that had actually been strewn for the expected Emperor Otto I. Only this had to change its route into the city at short notice because of the flooding of the Saale. The story has been told differently over the centuries. Sometimes the donkey driver is also a worker from the salt boilers in the valley to Halle. The theme was taken up as early as 1583 and depicted as a relief on the north-east side of the market church (here, however, with a clear reference to the town's salt tradition). In any case, the three-dimensional execution of Halle's landmark, the “donkey that walks on roses”, immediately met with approval from the people of Halle. The inauguration of the fountain figure, which is still popular today, took place in the summer of 1913.
Incidents in 2015
On January 26, 2015, it was announced that strangers had sawed off the donkey statue's tail. This means that the hall's landmark on the Alter Markt was missing forty centimeters of its distinctive figure. On the night of April 14, 2015, an attempt was made to steal the group of figures. This failed, but the anchorage was permanently damaged. On this occasion, the statue was transported to the workshop of the sculptor Markus Traub on the same day, where the donkey a. a. also got his tail back.
On the night of April 19, 2015, the pedestal, which had been empty for so long, was decorated by initially unknown persons with a sculpture of a donkey, which resembles the donkey from the Shrek series. On the night of May 7th, 2015 this replacement sculpture was stolen. At first it was assumed that the donkey was stolen, but soon a page ( Donkey I ) was set up on the social network Facebook with authentic-looking photos of the donkey, which portrayed it as a kidnapping.
The creators of the first Shrek donkey then created and installed a second, which was also stolen on May 16. On the occasion of Garlic Wednesday on May 27, a third Shrek donkey was presented, which stood on cloves of garlic instead of roses. On May 29, 2015, the day the Handel Festival opened , the restored group of figures finally returned to the fountain. The third donkey was donated to the Halle City Library on June 6, 2015.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Esel auf Rosen (Marktkirche) ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Hall in the picture, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Unknown people saw the tail of the donkey that walks on roses , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of January 26, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Donkey protected from thieves , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of April 14, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Shrek-Esel is allowed to stay until the Handel Festival , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung from April 19, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Shrek donkey tours Halle with a broken hoof , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of May 7, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Replacement figure number two permanently installed on the fountain , Super Sonntag from May 21, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Garlic Wednesday on the Würfelwiese, Shrek donkey celebrated with , Halle Spectrum from May 27, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Miller boy and donkey are back on the fountain , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung from May 29, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015. Eselei has an end , Halle Spectrum from May 29, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2015.
- ↑ Shrek-Esel is now laughing in the City Library , Halle Spectrum from June 6, 2015, accessed on June 6, 2015.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 49.61 " N , 11 ° 58 ′ 10.79" E