Ryfflibrunnen, Renaissance fountain with statue in Old City of Bern, Switzerland.
The Ryfflibrunnen is a Renaissance fountain featuring a statue of a marksman with a crossbow mounted on a stone column beside Aarbergergasse in Bern's Old City. Water still flows from the structure and remains available for drinking.
Built in 1545 at the start of Ryffligässchen, the fountain replaced a 14th-century structure that stood in the middle of the lane. Until the 19th century it was called Golatenmattgassbrunnen; the present name comes from a newer theory linking the statue to the legendary marksman Ryffli, who according to Konrad Justinger's chronicle shot the knight Jordan III von Burgistein after the Battle of Laupen. Others hold that the figure portrays Captain Anton Güder.
The figure represents a legendary Bernese marksman from regional stories who played a role in medieval conflicts. The statue with crossbow remains a symbol of the shooting culture that has long been important to the city.
The fountain stands in the middle of Aarbergergasse, at the mouth of the Ryffligässchen, in front of house No. 35. It is a public drinking fountain fed by the Energie Wasser Bern network, whose water quality is checked regularly. The figure faces the lane, so it is seen best from the street side.
The fountain holds the status of a Class A Swiss cultural property of national importance and displays craftsmanship from the 16th century. The combination of water, stone, and metalwork shows how practical water management was united with artistic purpose.
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