Year of construction:
1977-1984
Design:
Jürgen Weber
Implementation:
Jürgen Weber
Location:
Depiction:
The fountain depicts in six images the most diverse scenes from the ups and downs of married life – from first passionate love to marital strife and death.
History:
The fountain was put up to accommodate a subway ventilation shaft that was to be covered over and is concealed in the center of the fountain.
The fountain consists of painted bronze figures and a base of colored marble.
Also known as the "Hans Sachs Fountain," this monumental fountain is thematically linked to the poem "Das bittersüße eh'liche Leben" (The Bittersweet Married Life) by Hans Sachs (shoemaker and poet, 1494–1576).
The poet is depicted as a dancing figure at the top of the fountain. On the opposite side, outside the fountain basin, lies a heart into which the poem is engraved.
When the fountain was put up in the summer of 1984, the artwork was highly controversial due to its graphic depictions and significant budget overruns.
Today, the fountain is considered one of the most important modern artworks in the city of Nuremberg and the largest figurative fountain in Europe of the 20th century.
Reference:
Paul Giesser, 2020, https://bayern-online.de/nuernberg/erleben/
sehenswuerdigkeiten/brunnen/
ehekarusell/