Bodenseereiter, Fountain and sculpture in Überlingen, Germany

The Bodenseereiter is a light-grey stone fountain by Peter Lenk, erected in 1999 in Überlingen. A man in a cap and long coat sits on a bridled horse, wearing ice skates instead of boots; two tall curved tail-like forms rise from the basin to support the horse. Three large female figures recline in the water at the base, one holding a small object, with another figure lying between the tails and jets spraying upward.

The city of Überlingen expected a depiction of the rider from Gustav Schwab's ballad "Der Reiter und der Bodensee", but Peter Lenk instead erected this fountain in 1999 as a caricature of the local writer Martin Walser. Lenk's leaflets allude to Walser's speech in Frankfurt's Paulskirche on 11 October 1998, when he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the resulting controversy. Walser said in 2004 that he had never looked at the monument and had changed hairdressers so as not to pass it.

The rider is Martin Walser, the writer who lives in Überlingen; Peter Lenk made the fountain in 1999 as a caricature after Walser's 1998 Paulskirchen speech. The horse is flanked by two bank directors and Walser's mother-in-law, and the rider wears ice skates. Walser said in 2004 he had never looked at the monument and changed his hairdresser to avoid passing it.

The fountain stands in Überlingen's pedestrian zone, reachable on foot from the town centre. The basin and reclining figures sit at ground level, so the sculpture can be circled and viewed from all sides; the rider on horseback is best seen from a few steps back. No entry or opening times apply, as it is an open public fountain.

Lenk's leaflets explain the skates: the poet is an "ice skater on horseback on the frozen lakes of German history" who only dismounts when the ice grows dangerously thin. The line refers to Walser's Paulskirche speech of 11 October 1998. Walser never visited the fountain and changed hairdressers to avoid passing it.