Löwenkopfbrunnen, Protected water well in Altstadt, Austria

The Löwenkopfbrunnen is a wall fountain on the south-facing wall of the Fisch-Krieg building at Ferdinand-Hanusch-Platz 4 in Salzburg's Old Town. Water flows from a Baroque lion-head relief into a shell-shaped basin of Untersberg marble, set in a simple marble frame from 1926 with a two-step base, pilaster-like plates and a cornice on two consoles.

The wall fountain was created in 1926, when a new Fischmarkt building replaced a school on Ferdinand-Hanusch-Platz. Mayor Josef Preis arranged the purchase of the lion-head relief, probably carved in 1647 for a well at Kaigasse 13, and the city received the 18th-century Untersberg marble basin on loan from the Salzburg Museum. City architect Franz Wagner had acquired the relief after it lay unnoticed in a courtyard.

The lion-head relief probably dates from 1647, when a medieval well at Kaigasse 13 was renewed; it later moved to Chiemseegasse 1 and then lay unnoticed in a courtyard. The basin, carved from Untersberg marble in the 18th century, stood in the Stiegl-Bräu inn on Gstättengasse until 1910. Both pieces were assembled here in 1926, continuing a fountain tradition at this fish-market site that began in 1654.

The fountain is mounted on the south-facing wall of Ferdinand-Hanusch-Platz 4, on the left bank of the Salzach. It operates only in summer, so the water is off outside the warm months. It is one of 19 drinking-water fountains in the Old Town and 28 in the whole city.

The basin is not original to the site: it was carved from Untersberg marble in the 18th century and stood in the Stiegl-Bräu inn on Gstättengasse until that building was demolished in 1910, after which it entered the Salzburg Museum collection. It came to the fountain as a permanent loan from the museum.