Gutenberg monument, Frankfurt, Bronze monument and water well in Roßmarkt, Frankfurt, Germany
The Gutenberg monument on Rossmarkt is a bronze sculptural group centered on a standing figure of Johannes Gutenberg holding printed pages. The base has four seated female figures at its corners, and the lower section forms a working water well decorated with relief panels.
The monument was unveiled in 1858 to mark Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable type printing in the 15th century. Frankfurt had long been a hub of the book trade, which made the city a natural place to honor this invention.
The four seated figures at the base each stand for a field shaped by printing: theology, poetry, natural sciences, and industry. Looking at them closely, visitors can read each figure as a symbol of how the printed word reached into a different part of human life.
The monument stands in the middle of Rossmarkt square, within easy walking distance of Frankfurt's main shopping street. There are benches around the square where you can sit and take in the whole group from a distance.
The bronze relief panels on the well section show scenes from the history of printing across different periods, from early workshops to later developments. Most visitors walk past these panels without stopping, even though they tell the story of printing in a way the main statue does not.
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