Mozart monument, Dresden, Heritage fountain monument in Bürgerwiese park, Dresden, Germany.
The Mozart Monument displays three gilded female statues arranged around a circular water basin, each expressing different emotional states through their body positions. The artwork stands on a stone base set among paved pathways that make it accessible from multiple sides within the park.
The Mozartverein Dresden proposed a Mozart memorial in April 1902 and set aside 25,000 marks for it. A competition by Epler, König, Wedemeyer and Hartmann-MacLean was rejected; an unsolicited design by Berlin sculptor Hermann Hosaeus won instead. Cast by the Berlin foundry Martin und Pelzing, the fountain was handed over on 16 June 1907. In February 1945 the statues broke apart and the base toppled; the damaged original figure "Ernst" is kept in the Lapidarium in the Zionskirche ruin.
The three gilded bronze women embody what Hosaeus called the essence of Mozart's music: deep devout earnestness, graceful charm and sunny cheerfulness. The Mozartverein Dresden funded the monument with 25,000 marks and donated it to the city on 16 June 1907. The name "Mozart" appears in gilded letters on the Tyrolean marble altar, framed by garlands.
The monument stands in the Bürgerwiese landscape garden, in the Seevorstadt-Ost/Großer Garten district. The bronze figures are exposed and unprotected, and have repeatedly been scratched and daubed, so the gilding and surfaces may look worn. The fountain's lighting, installed after restoration, was destroyed several times and is no longer present.
The original figure of "Ernst" was shattered in the February 1945 air raids; the damaged original is kept today in the lapidarium in the ruin of the Zionskirche. Parts of the fountain were for a time provisionally built into the Stürmische Wogen fountain on Albertplatz. A 2021/22 survey found pinpoint corrosion pustules on the bronze, and regilding is planned.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,638 contributors worldwide.