Wittelsbacherbrunnen, Neoclassical fountain at Lenbachplatz, Munich, Germany.
The Wittelsbacherbrunnen is a neoclassical fountain at Lenbachplatz in Munich, built from Untersberg marble and limestone. It features a large semicircular basin flanked on each side by a monumental sculptural group placed on a raised stone base.
The fountain was created by sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand between 1893 and 1895 to mark the completion of Munich's water supply system from the Mangfall Valley. It takes its name from the Wittelsbach dynasty, the ruling family of Bavaria for several centuries.
The two large figures on the fountain draw from ancient mythology: a youth riding a water horse on one side, and an Amazon offering water on the other. Visitors who stop to look closely will notice how the figures face outward, as if addressing the square directly.
The fountain stands at Lenbachplatz, on the edge between central Munich and Maxvorstadt, within easy walking distance of the city center. Because it sits at a busy road junction, it helps to walk around the full perimeter to see both sculptural groups clearly.
The base and basin of the fountain are covered with low reliefs of sea creatures and water figures that most visitors walk past without noticing. Adolf von Hildebrand, the sculptor, was also an art theorist whose writings on how we see sculpture were widely read across Europe.
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