Schweinehirt und seine Herde, Bronze sculpture in Mitte, Bremen, Germany.
Schweinehirt und seine Herde is a bronze group by Bremen sculptor Peter Lehmann, cast in 1974 and set at the end of Sögestraße near Am Wall and Herdentorsteinweg. It comprises the swineherd, his dog, five adult pigs and four piglets, all at street level and listed among Bremen's monuments and statues.
The bronze group was made in 1974 to a design by Bremen sculptor Peter Lehmann (1921–1995). It was financed by the merchants of Sögestraße and recalls the street's medieval name Soghestrate, Low German for 'sow street', when pigs were probably kept here and herders drove them through the Herdentor to the Bürgerweide common outside the walls.
The street name comes from Low German and refers to where herders once drove pigs through Bremen's city gates to shared pastures. This location still carries the memory of when livestock raising was part of daily life in the city center.
The sculpture sits at the end of Sögestraße where several streets meet, making it easy to find and reach from different directions. The bronze figures are accessible from all angles and invite visitors to pause and look around.
Children and teenagers use the bronze pigs as ride-on toys, and meeting "at the pigs" has become a customary way to arrange a rendezvous in Bremen. The figures also serve as street furniture for sitting. Sculptor Peter Lehmann also made the stone sea lion group of 1964 in the Neue Vahr.
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