Hercules Fountain (Augsburg)
The Herkulesbrunnen is next to the Augustusbrunnen and Merkurbrunnen one of the three magnificent fountains in Augsburg . The fountain is on Maximilianstrasse , directly in front of the main entrance of the Schaezlerpalais . As part of the historical "Augsburg Water Management System" , the Hercules Fountain has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 6, 2019 .
history
The Hercules Fountain was modeled by Adriaen de Vries between 1597 and 1600 , then cast by Wolfgang Neidhardt in Augsburg and set up on the wine market in front of the seal house in 1602. Until 1809 there was a building train south of the fountain in the middle of today's Maximilianstraße, which reached to Ulrichsplatz and which was aligned with the facade of the sealed house towards the Hercules fountain.
Statue of Hercules
The Hercules Fountain is three-sided. The three-meter-high bronze group standing on a strong base shows the prototype of all heroes, the muscular, naked and bearded Hercules with a winner's armband in his frizzy hair. In his hand he holds a club of flames to slay the seven-headed, scaled and winged monster, the hydra . According to legend, Hercules needed the club of flames to scorch the roots of the severed heads and thus prevent the hydra from sprouting new heads. This depicts the victory of man over the wild power of water and the power of fire.
Fountain figures
On the ledge-like protrusion of the broader lower pillar block sit three naiads who, through their activities, thematize the element of water. One woman is wringing out a cloth, a second is brushing the water from her hair, and a third is pouring water from a jug onto her crossed legs. These female figures can also be seen as goddesses of time and fate: Klotho , the spinner of the thread of life, Lachesis , who determines the length of the thread of life, and Atropos , who inevitably cuts the thread. Here the idea of the thread of life seems to be transferred to that of the water of life. The three depictions of women are very similar to those of Giovanni da Bologna in Florence .
Below the protruding mussel shells are three men with mussels and fish in their hands, who identify them as sea gods. Next to the muscular men, who only stick out of the water with their upper bodies, three winged cocky putti can be seen. These boys - a motif that has been known since ancient times - hold geese between their legs, which they are strangling or stabbing. But since the heads of the geese spit out the water in a high arc from this position and the boys smile at it, the whole thing takes on a somewhat exuberant look.
Hercules fountain, naiad wringing out a cloth
Hercules fountain, naiad brushes water from her hair
Hercules fountain, naiad pours water over his legs
Hercules fountain sea god
Hercules fountain further sea god
First boy
Second boy
Third boy
Bronze relief panels
Of great importance are the three gold -plated bronze relief panels embedded in marble frames between the three female figures . The first relief shows, facing to the right, the founding of the city of Augsburg. A bull and a cow , strung under the yoke , pull the furrow plow with which the limit of the city's expansion is dug into the earth. The flag with the city coat of arms is raised. At the front left sits a man with a long beard ( very similar to the long bearded man from the Augustus Fountain ), who is holding a mythical creature, the zodiac sign of Capricorn, under his arm: under this zodiac sign, Emperor Augustus was born.
On the second relief the connection and the alliance between “Roma” and “Augusta Vindelicorum” is shown. The helmeted Roma, sitting on the Capitoline rock, at her feet Romulus and Remus and the Tiber , extends her hand to Augusta, who is walking towards her, adorned with a wall crown and pine cones . The four river gods and Fama belong to Augusta . Cupid and two eagles sit on the beams of the triumphal arch architecture, and Augustus , who connects the cities, stands in the arch opening .
In the third relief, the city goddess Augusta Vindelicorum, again adorned with a wall crown and pine cones, enters her new city on the triumphal chariot. Above the city gate is Mercury , who bestows wealth , and at the bottom right sits a female figure with the cornucopia of abundance.
Foundation of the city of Augsburg
Alliance of Roma and Augusta Vindelicorum
City goddess on triumphal chariot
Inscriptions
The inscriptions of the Hercules fountain have the following content in German translation:
- At the foot of Hercules is written: Adriaen de Vries from The Hague , artist, created it in 1602 after the birth of Christ.
- On the north side: This work of wonderful art by de Vries was decided under the city caretakers of Johann Welser and Octavianus Secundus Fugger and placed under the city caretakers Quirin Rehlinger and Markus Welser in 1602.
- In the direction of Hallstrasse: The column base, which used to be made of marble , was restored under the city keepers David von Stetten and Octavian Langenmantel in 1668, then repaired again under the (two) city keepers Paul von Stetten and Ignatius Langenmantel in 1721.
- In the direction of Heilig-Grab-Gasse: The bronze statue of Hercules with the other noble portraits was finally given a reinforced support with the fountain column under the mayors Anton Barth and Philipp Franz Kremer, when Sebastian Balthasar von Hößlin was the town builder in 1828.
Conservation and appreciation
For reasons of protection, the original bronze statue of Hercules was moved to an interior space, in the glass-roofed inner courtyard of the Maximilian Museum , where it is on display . The fountain column has since been crowned by a bronze cast of the Hercules figure. All other figures, as well as the bronze plaques, were gradually replaced by weather- and graffiti-resistant replicas and have been in the museum since 2018.
Bettina Vaupel from the German Foundation for Monument Protection honors the facility as “a masterpiece by Adriaen de Vries in the style of Italian mannerism ”. For them, the "Augsburg Monumental Fountains for great sculptures and great water art".
See also
literature
- Helmut Friedel: bronze picture monuments in Augsburg 1589-1606 image and urbanity . Treatises of the city of Augsburg, series of publications by the Augsburg city archive, Volume 22, Hieronymus Mühlberger Verlag, Augsburg 1974, ISBN 3-921133-14-9
- Walter Settele: Augsburg fountain . Brigitte Settele Verlag, Augsburg 1989, ISBN none
- Martha Schad: Well in Augsburg . Gondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1992, ISBN 3-8112-0791-1
- Michael Kühlental: The Augustus Fountain in Augsburg . Hirmer Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7774-9890-4
- Ursel Berger, Björn R. Kommer [Eds.]: Adriaen de Vries: 1556–1626; Augsburg's glamor - Europe's glory . Catalog for the exhibition of the same name by the municipal art collections Augsburg, March 11 - June 12, 2000, City of Augsburg, 2000, ISBN 3-8295-7024-4
Web links
- The Herkulesbrunnen on the pages of the Augsburg water management system
- Augsburg fountain
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 48 ° 21 '54.2 " N , 10 ° 53' 58.5" E