Haus von Werth

Haus von Werth stands at Alter Markt in Cologne’s old town, combining a fountain with a monument from 1884. Its stone obelisk rises above a pedestal, water basin and side basins once intended for market visitors. Steps lead you towards relief panels showing Jan and Griet as a young couple and at their later reunion.

The upper figure presents Jan von Werth in a coat and boots, leaning on his sword with both hands. Seated figures on the northern and southern sides represent the Cologne farmer and the Virgin, linked with the city’s defence and purity. The reliefs recall a local legend about Griet rejecting Jan, who later returned as a successful general after years of war.

Jan von Werth was a real cavalry commander in the Thirty Years’ War, serving Cologne after beginning in the Spanish army. The monument survived an attempted wartime melting in 1918 because stone could not become cannon metal. Bombings destroyed much of Alter Markt during the Second World War, while the fountain remained standing. Market women once washed vegetables in its water, then took responsibility for keeping the fountain clean.