Minnesängerbrunnen

The Minnesängerbrunnen stands in Nuremberg’s Rosenaupark as a Jugendstil fountain dedicated to medieval minnesang. A minnesinger raises a lute above a column.

Below him, childlike water spirits and sea creatures turn the basin into a playful scene. Water spouts emerge from the bronze figures beneath the bowl.

Its hexagonal base supports the bowl through arches decorated with bronze children, each holding a different instrument. The sculptural arrangement brings music, poetry, and water together.

Philipp Kittler created the fountain for Babette Bach, a glass manufacturer’s widow. Christoph Lenz cast the bronze figures, while Ferdinand Göschel completed the stonework.

The Prateranlage first held the fountain before postwar urban development brought it to Rosenaupark. A bronze plaque later replaced the original inscription honouring the patron.

The bowl’s rim carries words from a thirteenth-century Minnelied. That inscription connects the lute player and aquatic figures with Nuremberg’s medieval poetic tradition.