Shrove Tuesday fountain

Unveiled in 1967, the Fastnachtsbrunnen is a comparatively young monument in Mainz.

Details of the carnival fountain in front of a bright blue sky — Carnival fountain with a view of the Osteiner Hof

A cheerful monument

And yet it is impossible to imagine the city without it. With over 200 figures from carnival and mythology, it stands as a symbol of Mainz's typical zest for life.

Every year on November 11, Carnival is proclaimed from the balcony of the Osteiner Hof opposite Schillerplatz.

Carnival fountain at a glance

Facts, figures and data

Built: 1964 to 1967
Designed by: Blasius Spreng, sculptor and painter from Munich, and Helmut Gräf, architect from Mainz
Donated by: The Eckes-Chantré family, Nieder-Olm

Historical

Although famous far beyond Germany's borders for its crazy fifth season, for a long time the city did not have a single monument reflecting Mainz Carnival. This was only to change in the 1960s. In late fall 1963, the city fathers presented their wish to erect a carnival fountain at the southern end of Schillerplatz to a small circle of industrialists.

The aim was to beautify the cityscape and vividly manifest Mainz's typical zest for life. The well-known beverage company Eckes from Nieder-Olm agreed to donate the carnival fountain and announced a competition, which was ultimately won by Munich professor Blasius Spreng and Mainz architect Helmut Gräf.

After three years of construction, the Narrenturm was finally unveiled on January 14, 1967, in the presence of several thousand Mainz residents who had gathered expectantly on Schillerplatz, accompanied by carnival music.

At the handover, the donor, Ludwig Eckes, explained: "We were happy to fulfill this wish, and we did so with joy in our hearts, in order to make our own contribution to beautifying this city, which has been so badly damaged and ravaged by war."

Those present jubilantly took possession of their "fools' tower," immediately recognizing that this successful monument was not just any fountain, but "a speaking work of art in which they themselves, Mainz, and the people of Mainz were given a voice." (Dr. Gottfried Edel)

Architecture

With the creation of the Fastnachtsbrunnen fountain, Blasius Spreng has succeeded in creating a unique work of art that fits perfectly into Mainz life, both thematically and aesthetically.

In the middle of the fountain basin, created by Gräf and made of red sandstone, stands a bronze tower almost nine meters high, populated by more than 200 individual figures, also made of bronze. What the eye can discover here is mysterious, grotesque, grotesque, and familiar at the same time.

Symbolism

Father Rhine, the monk and the man with the board in front of his head, the cat, Till Eulenspiegel and the city goddess Mogontia, the purse washer or the paragraph rider: they are all examples of the diversity of fantasy motifs that populate the carnival fountain. They not only express the special nature of Mainz Carnival, but even more so, in an inimitable way, the spirit of the traditional city of Mainz.

Today

"If I have now, dear readers, aroused
your curiosity,
then that was my intention,
so that you may rediscover him..."

(Poem verse from: Ein Mainzer Fastnachtstraum (A Mainz Carnival Dream) by Dr. Rudi Henkel, Honorary President of the Mainz Carnival Association 1838 e. V.)

The Fastnachtbrunnen fountain attracts curiosity not only during the fifth season: it is a tourist magnet all year round and one of the highlights of city tours. In summer, Mainz residents and tourists alike enjoy the pleasant cooling spray, sitting at the edge of the fountain eating ice cream or watching the water fountains play.