Marktplatz fountain (Mannheim)

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Market Square Fountain 2012
Fountain in the 18th century before the remodeling
Marktplatz fountain 2005 without the historical decorative grille

The market square fountain is on the Mannheim market square . It was originally created by Peter van den Branden for the Heidelberg Castle Gardens in 1719 and redesigned in 1769 by his son Johann Matthäus van den Branden .

history

Carl Philipp became Elector Palatinate in 1716 . He planned the design of the Heidelberg castle garden and commissioned Peter van den Branden, a student of Gabriel Grupello , to do the sculpture. The figures symbolized the four elements, a water god for the water, a female figure for the earth and the divine messenger Mercury for the air, holding the sun in her hand for the fire. In 1719 the memorial was completed, but the following year Carl Philipp moved the residence from Heidelberg to Mannheim.

In 1763, Elector Carl Theodor had the sculpture moved to the orangery of the Schwetzingen palace gardens . There, however, it did not fit into the concept of the architect Nicolas de Pigage , so that the Elector gave it to the city of Mannheim on the occasion of his 25th anniversary in government. The monument should now have Mannheim as its theme and be redesigned accordingly. Augustin Egell and Johann Matthäus van den Branden applied for the execution . The city wanted to give the contract to Egell, who had made the cheaper offer, but Pigage stood up for the son of Peter van den Branden. In 1769 the newly designed monument was finished. The base jewelry was also created by Johann Matthäus van den Branden until 1771. Augustin Egell and Konrad Linck had unsuccessfully applied for this work.

The monument was affected by the bombardment of Mannheim in 1795; u. a. two figures had lost an arm. The sculptor Maximilian Joseph Pozzi from Manheim repaired this war damage . The monument only became a fountain around 1887, when a central water supply could be established in the city with the construction of the Mannheim water tower . The monument was badly damaged during World War II . The Neckar figure had to be completely replaced by Carl Trummer . In 1958 the head of Mercury broke off and shattered the arms of two figures when falling. Gerd Dehof supplied the models for the replacement . In 1978 an underground car park was built under the market square. The monument was dismantled, restored and replaced in 1981 with a copy of the group of figures. The protective fence was dispensed with, which led to vandalism damage after a short time. In 2009/10 the monument fountain was restored and, on this occasion, an ornamental grille was added based on a historical model.

description

The city goddess holds a city map of Mannheim in her left hand. It is towered over by Mercury, the god of trade. At the feet are two water gods who symbolize the two rivers that flow through the city, in front Father Rhine with an oar and behind the Neckar .

The four sides of the base are similarly designed with medallions crowned by lions' heads with inscriptions, including two putti whose legs end in fish tails, as well as attributes of a hare, a pig, an oar and fruits. The water outlet points are labeled with the rivers Rhine, Danube , Neckar and Moselle , the four rivers in the Kurpfalz , Neuburg , Jülich and Berg and the county of Sponheim .

At the corners of the base there are multiple coats of arms, which are crowned with the electoral hat . They stand for the lands that Elector Carl Theodor claimed:

  1. Duchy of Bavaria , Regalia , Duchy of Jülich
  2. Duchies of Cleve and Berg , County of Moers
  3. Counties of Veldenz , Mark and Ravensberg
  4. Palatinate near Rhine and Margraviate Bergen op Zoom

  • Mercury, city goddess, Rhine (from above)

  • Moselle base side

  • Coat of arms: Veldenz, Mark and Ravensberg

literature

  • Hans Huth: The art monuments of the Mannheim II district . Munich 1982, ISBN 3-422-00556-0 .
  • Volker Keller: The enclosure of the market place fountain , in: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter 21/2011 . Heidelberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89735-690-0 .
  • Dietrich Rentsch: Mannheim , in: Dagmar Zimdars u. a. (Ed.), Georg Dehio (Gre.): Handbook of German Art Monuments : Baden-Württemberg I. The administrative districts of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe . Munich 1993, ISBN 3-422-03024-7 .
  • Inken Jensen: A 17th century fountain - the oldest architectural monument in Mannheim. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 8th year 1979, issue 2, pp. 77–80. ( PDF; 10.1 MB )

Web links

Commons : Marktplatzbrunnen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Huth: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Stadtkreis Mannheim , Volume 2, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1982, Page 1364, ISBN 3422005560 ; Excerpt from the source

Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 22.8 "  N , 8 ° 28 ′ 2.8"  E