Fairytale fountain in Schulenburgpark
The Märchenbrunnen is a listed ornamental fountain in the Berlin district of Neukölln in the district of the same name. The creator of the fairy tale fountain is the sculptor Ernst Moritz Geyger . The fountain system was set up in 1935 in Schulenburg Park - named after Rudolf Wilhelm Graf von der Schulenburg from the Schulenburg family . The park was laid out around 1913 and was designed in its present form in 1923 according to plans by Horticultural Director Ottokar Wagler ; it is now a Berlin garden monument .
history
Around 1914, the administration of the then independent town of Neukölln commissioned the sculptor Ernst Moritz Geyger to design a representative fountain for installation near their recently completed town hall . In doing so, she wanted to set a memorial for Geyger, who had meanwhile become famous. In 1915 Geyger presented several models from which the councilors chose the symbol of the Waldesdom , also known as the German Forest . In the following three years a complete plaster model was created and the figures of a deer and a doe with calf were cast from bronze. The manufacture of the temple-like pavilion, which is surrounded by an angular fountain basin in shell limestone , also began in Geyger's workshop.
When the city administration was still arguing about a suitable location - directly in front of the town hall or on Hertzbergplatz - the fall of the empire created a new political situation. As a result, at the end of November 1918, Spartacists took over the city administration and proclaimed a "Republic of Neukölln".
So it was out of the question to put up the fountain by the rather conservative artist. Therefore, the model and the executed figures and shell limestone parts were temporarily stored in a street cleaning depot. The aftermath of the First World War and later the Great Depression left the work of art still in the depot.
It was not until 15 years after its completion, in 1934, that the administration of what is now the Neukölln district decided to set up Geyger's fountain in Von-der-Schulenburgpark. The name that Geyger had given the fountain, symbol of the Waldesdom , fitted into the ideology of the now ruling Nazis . Ernst Moritz Geyger, who has lived in Italy since 1927, was not present at the inauguration. The local batches of the NSDAP let numerous school children appear in fairy tale costumes and thus harnessed them for their propaganda festival. Because of this fairy tale celebration, the fountain was popularly called "fairy tale fountain", which was later officially adopted.
During the Second World War , all bronze parts of the fountain were dismantled and melted down for war purposes. The remaining parts of the facility fell into disrepair due to the weather and vandalism. In 1970 the ornamental fountain was renovated for the first time, with two fairy tale characters by the sculptor Katharina Szelinski-Singer being installed instead of Geyger's characters . On the occasion of an extensive renovation in 2000/2001, newly created bronze putti by the artist Anna Bogouchevskaia were placed in their previous place on the pillars.
Description of Geyger's fountain design
The entire facility, consisting of a low fountain basin in which an open pavilion rises, belongs to the popular and popular Art Nouveau style with Gothic forms. According to Geyger's intention, the pavilion prosaically symbolized the dome of a forest . It is formed by eight decorative columns evenly arranged around a plateau, which are provided with leaf tendrils and other natural jewelry. On top of the capitals of the columns, variously shaped putti were placed and poured water in high arches into the basin. More water gushed from the side of the plateau from small gargoyles . Above the heads of the putti, a surrounding relief connected the columns, from which numerous slender turrets stretch upwards. On two opposite plinths outside the pillars stood the doe with her calf on one side, and a deer roared on the other. The fountain basin, round in the center, with a diameter of around 6.80 meters, is enlarged on opposite sides to accommodate the earlier animal figures, each measuring 1.50 × 4.20 meters.
Destruction and first restoration in the 1970s
The melted down sculptures were irretrievably lost. Other well elements were partly destroyed by acts of war, partly they fell apart because the district administration had to take care of housing issues and other vital things after 1945. It was not until the 1950s that some money could be raised for a redesign of the park by the horticultural director Anton Lohrer. The fountain remained largely in its dreary condition. The park soon fell into disrepair and vandals continued to damage the fountain.
In 1970 the Neukölln district was able to have its first comprehensive restoration carried out, but the original design of the water image was not taken into account. The putti in the columns could not be added, but the animal figures were replaced by limestone sculptures by Katharina Szelinski-Singer .
At the beginning of the 21st century, new putti were also commissioned. Since then, the fountain system has been in very good condition and the responsible nature and green areas office ensures that it is kept and kept clean.
The fairy tale characters of Katharina Szelinski-Singer
The sculptor, who became known in 1955 with her first public commission, a monument in memory of the Berlin rubble women , was able to put up her third and, for the time being, last public work in 1956/1957. In 1970, Katharina Szelinski-Singer received another public contract for the restoration of the fairy tale fountain in Schulenburgpark , which corresponded to her purely figurative sculptural conception. Commissioned by the Neukölln district, she created the two limestone sculptures with scenes from the well-known German folk tales Little Brother and Sister and Cinderella . This was the first time that fairytale characters were really added.
little brother and little sister
The 11th fairy tale from the children's and house tales by the Brothers Grimm depicts the artist in a scene in which the little sister wraps both arms around the neck of the little brother who has already turned into a deer.
The deer has drawn on both forelegs and is about to jump over a tree stump that is decorated with branches and foliage. It stretches its neck and head high up. The girl wears a long skirt and bends her upper body far over the deer so that the upper body is almost horizontally in the air and forms a line with the body of the deer. Her hair falls far forward and is caught under the deer's ear on its neck. Both hands, the fingers of which are clearly marked, clasp the neck and try to hold back the game. The legs and feet brace themselves powerfully against the tree stump. The mouth is slightly open and the expression on his face shows great shock.
The artist may refer to the well water and depict the transformation scene in which the little sister cannot prevent the thirsty brother at the third spring from drinking water, so that the witch's curse turns him into a deer. The transformation happens to the little sister, so to speak, in the hands, who perhaps just wanted to hold back the little brother and now suddenly and with great shock are holding a deer.
In the form of processing, the depiction of the hair, which oozes raw and broad from the stone, is reminiscent of the Diabase figure from 1973 with its deep connection to stone.
Cinderella
The fairy tale depicts Katharina Szelinski-Singer with the scene in which the birds help Cinderella to sort the lenses.
The unhappy girl is crouching on the floor with the already well-filled lentil jar at her feet. One arm reaches down to the ground and reads the lenses. Before hand, two pigeons peck at the legumes. Two pairs of birds turtle next to them in an upright position, each drawing a pigeon with fluffed plumage. The girl has bent her other arm, the slightly bent hand is holding another pigeon over her lap. A thin strand of hair falls forward from the bowed head onto the dove in hand. The long hair falls to the side and on the back in two broad strands. The facial expression is tense and brooding and, despite the help of the pigeon and the filled pot, does not exude any confidence.
Renovation program 2000 with new putti
Overall system
In 1979 the entire system had to be shut down again due to renewed vandalism with extensive destruction. In the years 2000 and 2001 there was a new, extensive renovation as part of the Berlin fountain renovation program 2000 , which cost a total of 1.47 million marks . In addition to the expenses for the structural and artistic restoration, this sum also includes the costs for the repair of all water-technical systems, with the entire fountain and circulation technology, including the necessary renovation measures for the mirror basin and the redesign of the missing bronze putti.
The architectural office Abelmann Vielain Pock received the planning contract . The restoration of all sculptures and fountain parts took place in a moderate-historical variant and was carried out by the master stone sculptor and restorer Matthias Scheibner. The figures by Szelinski-Singer remained standing for the time being, and the fountain sculpture was also given interior lighting with changing light.
Putt
Views or descriptions of Geyger's putti have not survived, old photos are too imprecise. For example, the district office announced an art competition for the redesign of the bronze putti. The artist Anna Bogouchevskaia , who was born in Moscow in 1966 and has lived in Berlin since 1993 , won the competition. In keeping with today's name Märchenbrunnen and Szelinski-Singer's limestone sculptures, Bogouchevskaia chose animal and fairytale motifs for the depiction, but also designed some putti with their own fantasy scenes and witty ideas. She said: "I wanted to do something funny so that the characters don't appear so static".
Examples:
- A boy wants to wash himself, but tips the water from the jug past his foot.
- Another boy cannot put on the much too large crown. Water sprays out of this in turn.
Examples of pictures of the new bronze putti :
Since September 2001 the 16 putti, which are attached both in the inner and in the outer upper ring, have been pouring water jets from fish, buckets and through crowns in high arches into the water basin, in which the plane trees are reflected in their old splendor. The water is only turned off in the winter months.
Web links
- Chronicle of the fairytale fountain and the Schulenburg park
- The fairy tale fountain at bildhauerei-in-berlin.de
- Press release on the reopening of the fountain in 2001 on stadtentwicklung.berlin.de
- "German Forest" fountain, part of the Von-der-Schulenburg-Park garden monument. Entry in the state monument list
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lohrer, Anton . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1943, part 1, p. 1782. “Diplom Gartenbauinspektor, Neukölln, Leykestr. 8th".
- ↑ Uwe Aulich: “I wanted to do something funny.” Anna Bogouchevskaia designed new putti for the fairy tale fountain. In: Berliner Zeitung , September 7, 2001
Coordinates: 52 ° 28 ′ 2 ″ N , 13 ° 28 ′ 16 ″ E