Nuremberg (Germany) -- Description and travel; Nuremberg (Germany) -- History
Tucher Haus, 9 Hirschelgasse.
Rupprecht Haus, next to the above.
Volkamer Haus, 19 Hauptmarkt.
Grundherr (Zum goldenen Schild) Haus, Schildgasse. Where the Golden
Bull was drawn up.
Nassauer Haus, corner of Karolinenstrasse.
Peter Vischer Haus, Peter Vischer Strasse.
Palm Haus, 29 Winklerstrasse. This is the house of the bookseller
Palm, who was shot by Bonaparte for publishing a pamphlet against
him.
Imhoff Haus, Tucherstrasse.
Ketzel Haus (Pilatushaus), Thiergärtnerthorplatz.
Glossner Haus, Adlerstrasse.
Grundherr Haus, 1585 (now the Bairischer Hof Karlsstrasse).
* * * * *
"Manch edles Brünnlein strömt darin
Aus goldnen Röhren schnell dahin."
So wrote Hans Sachs in his poem in praise of his native town. And indeed
the wells and fountains here are as characteristic though not of course
so beautiful as the well-heads of Venice. Far the most important of them
is the so-called Beautiful Fountain (Der Schöne Brunnen) in the corner
of the Haupt Markt, near the Rathaus. It is in the shape of an octagonal
Gothic spire. The construction of it is usually spoken of as
contemporaneous with that of the Frauenkirche and the design is likewise
attributed to Sebald Schonhofer. But recent researches have shown that
it was not built till the years 1385-1396, and that one Heinrich der
Palier, or der Parlierer, as he is commonly named in the City Accounts,
had the building of it. No doubt he was very much under the influence of
Schonhofer, and very likely he may have been his pupil. So much may be
gathered from the similarity of the ornamentation on the Frauenkirche
and the Beautiful Fountain. In old days, as we have seen, the well was
richly painted and gilded. But this is no longer the case. It was
carefully restored in great part in 1824 and again at this moment
further restoration is in contemplation.
The iron railing which surrounds the fountain was made by Paul Köhn
(1586). Curious funnels on levers are used for drawing the water, and
they remind one irresistibly of that _reductio ad absurdum_ of the
Meistersingers' Guilds, Harsdörfer's "Nuremberg funnel" for pouring in
poetry (p. 218).
[Illustration: FLEISCHBRÜCKE]
The Beautiful Fountain is a niched and tabernacled monument of stone,
over 60 feet high, tapering at intervals to a pinnacle. The niches in
the pillars of the lower compartment contain statues of the seven
Electors and of nine heroes, the Christian Charlemagne, Godfrey of
Bouillon and Cloris, the Jewish Judas Maccabæus, Joshua and David, and
the Pagan Julius Cæsar, Alexander the Great and Hector. Above, in the
second division, are Moses and the seven Prophets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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