Hotmannspief
The Hotmannspief , also Hotmannspiif (formerly Houpmannspeif ), is a fountain monument at a historic fountain in Aachen , which was built in the form of an obelisk in 1825 according to designs by city builder Adam Franz Friedrich Leydel and provided with figures in 1830.
At the Hotmannspief there used to be a simple fountain , which was recorded in the Aachen city accounts as early as 1334. Around 1600 this fountain was replaced by a fountain with a round basin bowl and pillar top. It was fed from the overflow of the market water pipes (called "market pief" in local dialect).
The origin of the name is not completely clear. Mostly it is assumed that it can be traced back to the names Hotmann , Hautmann , Hauptmann , Houpmann , Hupmann or Heuftmann . As early as 1460 a brewery "up den Hupman" was recorded in the county register of the Kölntor , which at that time came into the ownership of the Regulierherrenkloster and was sold in 1530 by the prior of the monastery for 1200 Aachen guilders as "auf den Hoipmann". It is not clear whether the name initially applied to the property, a family, a house or a company. Today it only applies to the fountain.
Pief , Piif or Pyfen denote a pipe in the regional dialect and was also used for the end points of the lines, i.e. the outlets at the well.
The fountain got its current shape with the obelisk built in 1825 and provided with the figures in 1830 on a square floor plan with semicircular collecting basins in front of the sides. The fountain was made in bluestone from the Eynatten quarries. This replaced the earlier basin shell according to a design by the city architect Leydel.
The four cast iron, gilded figures of the fountain are the same on all sides. As a half-relief, they show women (in the vernacular "virgins") who hold a jug in both hands from which water is poured into bowls. The total of four jugs and bowls are mounted over the corners of the square floor plan in such a way that each jug is held by two women whose hands merge on the handles. The water flows from the bowls into the fountain and emerges again at the base below the snapdragon figures. Water can be drawn from there before it falls into the basin at the foot of the base.
In the summer of 2008, as part of a renovation measure for the fountain, the figures, lion heads, bowls and jugs were removed and their gilding was renewed. Furthermore, the fountain technology and joints have been revised.
The Hotmannspief is one of the architectural monuments of the city of Aachen. The fountain is sung about in various Aachen ballads ("Öcher-Leddche").
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Directory of the architectural monuments in the area of the city of Aachen (in the version of the 15th supplement) (PDF; 129 kB), as of February 26, 2010
literature
- Peter Hermann Loosen: From old Aachen. Historical sketches or Aachen history in stories. 3rd expanded edition. Aquensia-Klette-Verlag, Aachen 1978, pp. 29-32.
Web links
- Aachen city history: Die Hotmanspief , accessed on August 18, 2012
- Portrait on Denkmalplatz.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 42.1 ″ N , 6 ° 5 ′ 18.9 ″ E