Pan und Nymphe
Pan und Nymphe stands near Dortmund’s opera and theatre as a sandstone sculpture by Spenhoff and Strunck. Pan appears half goat and half human, raising a flute beside a nude nymph. Both figures bring classical mythology into a public setting shaped by the city’s theatrical history.
The sculptures originally formed part of a three-figure relief on the former Olympic Theatre’s façade at Burgwall. Built in 1901 and 1902, the theatre received the relief during renovations in 1913. Pan occupied the centre, while the nymph stood to his right and another female figure stood to his left. After wartime damage, the sculptures moved to a private Dortmund garden during the 1950s.
Dortmund acquired them decades later, cleaned the sandstone, and placed them beside the opera and theatre in 1990. A plaque explains Pan’s identity as Hermes’s son and a fertility god whose sudden flute playing could inspire panic.
- City
- Dortmund
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