Goldschmiedebrunnen

Goldschmiedebrunnen stands on Martin-Luther-Platz in Augsburg, near St Anna Church. Berlin artist Hugo Kaufmann designed the 1912 fountain sculpture. A young goldsmith journeyman rises on a classical pedestal, holding a cup like a trophy.

Sabine Bühler commissioned and donated the work to honour goldsmiths, a longstanding Augsburg trade. Her husband, banker August Bühler, was remembered through the gift, although he was no goldsmith. The Bühler family also belonged to Augsburg’s Jewish community. Its older, more classical base joins different periods of the city’s artistic history.

Authorities removed the figure during the Second World War metal collection, intending to melt it down. Workers discovered it around 1950 on a Hamburg scrapyard, without its cup but largely intact. Augsburg returned it to the pedestal, while repeated cup thefts and relocations marked later years. During construction, only the covered base sometimes remained visible, but the figure returned.