Märchenbrunnen

The Märchenbrunnen (simply the fountain of fairy tales) is located in the Volkspark Friedrichshain in Berlin. In 1893 the authorities of Berlin issued the artistic entrance to the National Park Friedrichshain. The fountain of fairy tales was commissioned by the National Park and later designed by Ludwig Hoffmann. Hoffmann put forward the idea of a fountain in the park to describe fairy tales. Hoffmann describes this in his memoirs.

In 1901 the planning for the fountain begun, along with the design. Ludwig Hoffmann paid serious attention to the sculpture. In 1905 the planning was complete, and Hoffmann presented his sketches and his creation of fairy tale characters which were created by Joseph Rauh, Ignatius Tashner and Georg Vrba. The grand opening of the fountain was held on 15 June 1913 and the major works on the fountain were from 1907 to 1913.

The ensemble is 90 by 172 metres (295 by 564 ft) and the main part of the complex is 34 by 54 metres (112 by 177 ft) and is made in the style of neo—Baroque. The main part of the ensemble is called pool water and was constructed on four flat stages of the cascade, and includes one large and nine small fountains. It also features images of seven figures frogs which produce a jet of water. One of the frogs was used in The Frog Princess, a fairy tale. The sculptures are made of limestone. On the east side of the pond is a closed semicircular cascade arcade; a succession of arches. In the centre of the nine arches there is a large stone bowl which is decorated with sculptures of dog's heads. Above the arcade there is a complete gallery with sculptures of various animals from folk and literary tales.

Behind the arcades there is a round fountain called the Dolphin (German: Delphinbrunnen) which has a diameter of 8 metres (26 ft). This contains circles which are made out of sandstone and four sculptural groups which represent children and skiers on the dolphin. This was created by sculptor Georg Vrba.

The fountain is decorated with well-known fairy tale characters, such as the Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and medieval legends such as the Rubezahl.

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Wikipedia