Märchenbrunnen facts for kids
The Märchenbrunnen (which means "fountain of fairy tales") is a beautiful fountain found in Volkspark Friedrichshain in Berlin, Germany. It was planned in 1893 to be a special entrance to the park. The famous architect Ludwig Hoffmann designed it. He had the wonderful idea to create a fountain that would show scenes from classic fairy tales. He even wrote about this idea in his own memories!
Contents
Discovering the Fairy Tale Fountain
How the Fountain Was Designed
The main plans for the entire fountain area came from Ludwig Hoffmann. He was an architect and also worked for the city of Berlin for a long time. The most important part of his design is a large fountain pool. It measures about 34 meters (112 feet) by 54 meters (177 feet). This fountain is built in a style called Neo-Baroque style, which is grand and decorative.
The main fountain has four waterfalls that flow down. It also features one large fountain and nine smaller ones. You can also spot seven frog statues that spout water! One of these frogs is meant to be The Frog Prince from the famous story.
On the east side of the fountain, there's a curved row of arches called an arcade. In the middle of these nine arches, you'll see a big stone bowl. This bowl is decorated with sculptures of dogs' heads. Above the arcade, there's a walkway with even more sculptures. These show different animals from old folk tales and fairy tales.
Behind this arcade, there's another fountain called the Dolphin Fountain (or Delphinbrunnen in German). It's about 8 meters (26 feet) wide. The edge of this pool has sculptures of children playing with fairy tale animals. A sculptor named Georg Wrba created this part.
The Amazing Sculptures
Ludwig Hoffmann loved to add detailed sculptures to his buildings. He felt that sculptures were not used enough in northern Germany, especially in Berlin. So, he often worked with three talented sculptors from southern Germany: Ignatius Taschner, Georg Wrba, and Josef Rauch. Together, they created all the amazing sculptures for the Märchenbrunnen. There are 106 sculptures in total!
Ignatius Taschner made the main sculptures. These are 10 statues placed around the edge of the fountain. They show scenes from nine well-known fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm:
- Hansel and Gretel (There are two sculptures for this story. They show the children being carried home by a helpful duck, which is from an older version of the tale.)
- Puss in Boots
- Hans in Luck
- The Seven Ravens
- Cinderella
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Brother and Sister
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Sleeping Beauty
Georg Wrba made four special statues called Herms. You can find these in the narrow paths next to the main fountain. They show characters like an ogre, a giant's daughter, the Rübezahl, and Old Mother Frost. Wrba also created six groups of children for the Dolphin Fountain and other decorations.
Josef Rauch made 14 marble sculptures of game animals. These are placed on the fountain's arcade.
One interesting detail is that one of the seven dwarves from the Snow White sculpture looks a lot like the painter Adolph Menzel. Some people thought this was a quiet way to show disagreement with Kaiser Wilhelm II. However, this idea is probably not true. Kaiser Wilhelm II actually liked Menzel's art about German history very much. He even ordered a state funeral for the painter and attended it himself.
Images for kids
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Rescued Sculptures. 1950
