Heidelberger Brückenaffe

The Heidelberger Brückenaffe sits in bronze beside the Old Bridge, one of the city's main landmarks. Gernot Rumpf designed the sculpture, and it took up its post in 1979. One hand holds a mirror, meant to make you examine your own conduct. The head is hollow, so visitors stick their own heads inside for photographs. The mask-like face is built for exactly that swap, letting you step into the monkey's place.

The bronze is only the latest monkey at this spot. A stone forerunner sat in the bridge tower from the fifteenth century, posted there to awe anyone arriving in the city. That early monkey stood for mockery: it bared its backside toward Mainz, the gesture known as the Electoral Palatinate Greeting. The message was political, a signal that the Bishops of Mainz held no power over the Electors of the Palatinate. The Nine Years' War destroyed tower and monkey together, and nothing replaced them for centuries. When the association Alt-Heidelberg revived the tradition, Rumpf designed the replacement. His version swaps the old insult for the sign of the horns, which is meant to ward off the evil eye.

Touch the figure and local legend pays out: horns bring a return to Heidelberg, the mirror brings wealth, the mice bring children. The mice double as the artist's signature, a nod to the grain store that once stood nearby. Since 2016 the figure has even come as a plush toy, paw at its mouth and the city's arms on its chest. A verse by Martin Zeiller from the seventeenth century still stands beside the statue. It asks why you stare, when more monkeys like this one are all around you.