Rolandbrunnen, Renaissance water well in Historic Market Square, Hildesheim, Germany

Rolandbrunnen is an octagonal sandstone fountain located in Hildesheim's historic market square featuring eight decorated slabs. Six panels display relief portraits of biblical heroes while two panels show coats of arms.

The Renaissance fountain, model for today's copy, began operating on Michaelmas 1540 under the popular name Piepenborn ("pipe fountain"). Weathering worsened over the centuries and it was badly damaged in World War II; the market square redesign led to its dismantling in 1984. From 1985 it was rebuilt entirely anew, following old models, notably Georg Pencz's Twelve Triumphant Heroes of the Old Testament, identified as the source of the basin images.

The name Rolandbrunnen persists although the column figure is a city watchman with lance and shield, not Roland. The basin's east slab, facing the town hall, carries Hildesheim's 1528 coat of arms held by two angels with the year 1540; the west slab's shield was already blank in the 19th century. Locals also called the fountain Piepenborn, meaning pipe fountain.

The fountain sits at the center of the market square and serves as a key reference point for navigating Hildesheim's old town. You can easily spot it from different angles as you walk through the historic district.

The sandstone panels display eleven identified figures from the Old Testament dressed in medieval armor. A twelfth figure wears patrician clothing and has never been identified.