Tugendbrunnen, Renaissance fountain at Schloss Bückeburg, Germany.

The Tugendbrunnen is a sandstone Renaissance fountain standing in the forecourt of Bückeburg Palace. Its six-lobed basin rests on six columns whose bases sit on the backs of reclining lions. Above, the shaft rises in three tiers: four allegorical figures of Love, Bravery, Faith and Hope, a hexagonal pedestal with six lion-head spouts flanked by two coats of arms and figures of the sun and moon, and a column crowned by Justitia with sword and scales.

The fountain was carved in 1552 from sandstone on the order of Count Otto IV of Holstein-Schaumburg and first stood in the courtyard of Stadthagen Castle. In 1921 Adolf II, the last reigning prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, had it moved to Bückeburg after the 1919 Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe reassigned Stadthagen Castle to public ownership while Bückeburg remained princely private property.

The four allegorical figures on the lower shaft personify Love, Courage, Faith and Hope, each with a Latin inscription beneath its arch. Two coats of arms above them, held by lions and griffins, belong to Count Otto IV and his first wife Maria of Pomerania-Stettin. Sun and Moon flank them: a female figure with a moon disc to the southeast, a male with a sun disc to the northwest.

The fountain stands in the forecourt of Bückeburg Palace, not in a garden, so it is seen while visiting the palace courtyard. The basin is a six-lobed shape held by six columns on the backs of reclining lions; walk around it to see the four virtue figures, the lion-head spouts and the two coats of arms on the shaft.

The fountain is made of sandstone, not bronze, and its figures are carved rather than cast. The initials IR on the work were long unexplained; Thorsten Albrecht identified them as those of the Minden sculptor Jasper Robin. The Latin inscription on the crowning column is translated with disagreement, possibly reading "Love justice, you who rule the earth."