Roman, Statue in Fischmarkt, Erfurt, Germany

The Römer is a statue of a fully armed Roman warrior on the Fischmarkt, directly opposite Erfurt's town hall. The figure wears the insignia of the Roman Republic and holds Erfurt's city flag in its right hand. It stands on a pedestal dating from the 18th century.

A statue of Saint Martin stood in Erfurt from 1448 near the Martinikirche, but it was torn down in 1525 during the Peasants' War on the orders of the chief councillor. The Mainz archbishop pressed for a replacement, and the city council commissioned the Dutch resident Israel von der Milla to create the 'Man on the Column'. It was unveiled on 6 November 1591 in front of the Haus zum Breiten Herd and only moved to its present site in 1886.

The figure is a Roman warrior, not a saint: after the 1525 Peasants' War the Mainz archbishop wanted a new St Martin, but the council set up Israel von der Milla's "Man on the Column" in 1591. Erfurters long treated it as a Roland, a mark of civic rights, and only in the 20th century was it removed from the Roland list.

The statue stands on Fischmarkt, directly facing the Rathaus, so it is reached on foot from the old town's central squares. The figure is mounted on a column above a pedestal from the 18th century, so the carved details and the flag are best examined from a short distance. The surrounding square is paved and level.

The statue was long mistaken for a Roland, a symbol of civic rights, and was only removed from Erfurt's list of Roland figures in the 20th century. During the 1991/92 conservation by Reinhard and Stemmler, the flag and scabbard were replaced and the Renaissance colour scheme restored; the stonemasonry firm Ochsenfurt of Paderborn sponsored the work with over 30,000 DM.