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Braunschweig
Stadt Braunschweig Niedersachsen Altstadtmarkt |
Altstadtmarkt- oder MarienbrunnenOld Town Market of St. Mary's Fountain |
Medieval artist
1408 (replica) |
Late Gothic three-bowl fountain, which was cast in lead on 24 November 1408. The three differently sized, pyramid-shaped bowls are decorated with numerous coats of arms, figures, floral decorations and inscriptions in Middle Low German and Latin. The fountain is topped by a tabernacle in which a statue of St Mary with Child. It is not known who designed the fountain, where it was cast or who carried out the casting. Equally unknown are those who created the figures, letters and other decorations or made the tabernacle.
The fountain was very badly damaged in World War II and partly completely destroyed. In the years 1946 to 1951, the fontain was reconstructed based on the photographs and plaster casts made by Ludwig Winter in 1913 and on drawings and measurements made by A. Heubach in 1903.
  Statue is a sitting Mary with child in a tabernacle. On the four pillars the four evangelists (without their symbols) |
In contrast to the two lower bowls, the smallest upper bowl has neither an inscription band nor depictions of people or objects, but is completely surrounded by a stylised leaf frieze, which is interrupted by lion heads at regular intervals, as in the other bowls.
Twenty coats of arms of the town, the dukes of Braunschweig, the Nine Worthies (nine good heroes: the three pagan heroes Hector, Alexander, and Julius; the three Jewish heroes, David, Judas, and Joshua, the son of Nun; and the three Christian heroes, Charlemagne, Arthur, and Godfrey of Bouillon) the imperial coat of arms and the seven electorates of Mainz, Bohemia, Cologne, Saxony, Bavaria, Trier and Brandenburg; and finally the Guelph lines, the land of Brunswick and Lüneburg.
 brunswick, ector, allexand., yulius, s. david Braunschweig, Hector, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and David |
 yudas, yosue, karolus, s arthus Judas Maccabeus, Joshua Nun's son, Charlemagne, Arthur and Godfrey of Bouillon |
 godevrid, romrike, meyense, bemen, kollen, sassen Holy Royal Empire, Mainz, Bohemia, Cologne and Saxony |
 beyeren, trier, brandebg., br. lant, lunebg. Bavaria, Trier, Brandenburg, Braunschweig, and Lüneburg |
Below the middle bowl is the text:
in den groten kriege 15. Oktober 1944 dorch brand gesmolten, nie ggoten 1948
in the Great War on 15. October 1944 melted by fire, and recast in 1948
The upper edge is surrounded by a band of writing; below it, numerous people are depicted. With the exception of the first saying on Casting Day, which is written in Latin, all the other texts are biblical quotations that mainly emphasise the importance of water and - remarkably for the time - were written in the language of the people, namely Middle Low German.
Below the banner are 20 images of biblical figures, interrupted at regular intervals by four lion-headed waterspouts. In the center of each series is a crowned figure (except in one sequence, where St. Catherine is in the center and the crowned figure to her right).
 Text: anno dni m cccc viii vigilia katerine fusa est. · David · des waters invlot de stat godes vrolich dot. Cast in the year 1408 at St. Catherine's eve. The flood of water makes the city of God joyful [Ps 46:5] Figures: Obadiah, Isaiah, St Catherine (with wheel), David (crowned), and Habakkuk |
 Text: Elyzeus · sunt hebbe yk se maket gar unn werden nicht mer un vrucht bar. Elisha: I have made the waters whole, and they will no longer be barren" [2 Kings 2:19-22]. Figures: Moses, Nahum, Solomon (crowned), Hosea, and one destroyed |
 Text: Salomon · alle water in dat mer gan · Ysaias · wen dorste de kome hir an. Solomon: All the waters go into the sea" [Koh 1:7]. Isaiah: Let him who thirsts come near" [Is 55:1]. Figures: figures destroyed in the Second World War, Jeremiah |
 Text: Elijas · he scloch de watere unn en twe sint se ghedelet. · samuel · here wente in dossen dach amen Elijah: He smote the waters and they were divided in two [2 Kings 2:8 EU]. Samuel: Lord until this day. Amen! Figures: Joel, Elisha, Ahaz (crowned), Ezekiel, Samuel |
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