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The Bertoldsbrunnen ("Bertold's fountain") is a memorial in the historic city center of Freiburg im Breisgau, located at the intersection of the Salzstrasse, the Bertoldstrasse and the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, which carries the same name as the fountain. The Bertoldsbrunnen is one of the central points in the city of Freiburg. Its tram station „Bertoldsbrunnen“ is also named after the famous fountain. Here, the four tram lines of the municipal transport company Freiburg Verkehrs AG meet.
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History
Until 1806 the Fischbrunnen („fish fountain“) was situated at the crossroads of the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and the Salzstraße. Since there were plans to build a new fountain, the old Fischbrunnen was moved northwards to the corner of the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and the Münsterstraße. During World War II the Fischbrunnen was completely destroyed. Later, a copy of it was built on the north side of the Münsterplatz.
The new fountain at the intersection of the Salzstrasse and the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße was built in 1807 in remembrance of 5 May 1806, when the residents of Freiburg swore an oath of homage to their new territorial lord, prince-elector Charles Frederick, who would become the Grand Duke of Baden in June 1806. However, the "memorial of the Dukes of Zähringen" was not only dedicated to Charles Frederick, who bore the title „Grand Duke of Baden, Duke of Zähringen“; it was also a place of worship for the Dukes Bertold III, who founded the city of Freiburg, Conrad I, who built the Freiburg Minster, and Albert VI of Austria, the founder of the University of Freiburg. This was inscribed in Latin on the pedestal of the fountain:
North end:
CARLO FREDERICO MAGNO BADENSIUM DUCI, DUCUM ZARINGIAE PROLI, INTER IMPERANTES NESTORI, PRINCIPI OPTIMO GRATA CIVITAS FRIBURGENSIS MDCCCVII.
"To Charles Frederick, the Grand Duke of Baden, born to the house of Zaeringen, the eldest and best of Dukes, to whom the grateful citizens devote this memorial in 1806"
-The mayor and councils of Freyburg, the Grand Ducal capitol of Baden
East end:
EN BERTOLDUM III ZARINGIAE DUCUM QUI FRIBURGUM CONDIDIT LIBERAM CONSTITUIT, PRIMAM CISRHENAM SUIS LEGIBUS VIVERE JUSSIT MCXX.
"Bertold, the third Duke of Zaeringen, who built the city of Freyburg, ennobled it to the status of a courted city and provided it with municipal legislation, the first one of this kind on this side of the Rhine in 1120"
-The mayor and councils of Freyburg, the Grand Ducal capitol of Baden
South end:
CONRADUS ZARINGIAE DUX, BERTOLDI III FRATRER, BURGUNDIAE RECTOR HUIUS URBIS TEMPLUM TURRIMQUE, AETERNUM ZARINGICAE PIETATIS MONIMENTUM, CONDERE COEPIT MCXXIII.
"Conrad I, duke of Zaeringen, brother of Bertold the third, ruler of Burgundy, started to build the cathedral of our city in 1123 as an everlasting memorial for the worship of God"
-The mayor and councils of Freyburg, the Grand Ducal capitol of Baden
West end:
BERTOLDI I PRONEPOS XXIV SCIENTIARUM ACADEMIAM AB ALBERTO AUSTRIACO MCCCCLVI FRIBURGI FUNDATAM FIRMAVIT LEGIBUS, REDITIBUS AUXIT MDCCCVI.
"In 1806, the 24th great-grandson of Bertold the first, Duke of Zaeringen strengthened and maintained the University, which was indued in 1456 by Albert, Archduke of Austria."
-The mayor and councils of Freyburg, the Grand Ducal capitol of Baden
City Council Ferdinand Weiß drafted the plans for the monument, which were reviewed and adjusted by Friedrich Weinbrenner, the constructional manager. The master quarryman,Johann Georg Riescher (1759-1829) built the monument with the help of a sculptor named Franz Xaver Hauser (1739–1819),who realised the prototype, the inscriptions and the effigy of Berthold III of Zaehringen. He is shown as a knight with a shield and lance. The figure is aligned to the nearby castle of Zaehringen .
The effigy was mounted on top of a tall square pedestal. Riescher had to use "the 10 1/2 foot long, 5 1/2 foot wide and 1 foot high stone of the altar of the broken Domenistican church " by contract. The rest of the material for the monument originated from a slate mine in Mussbach, which is a part of Freiamt today. The total cost of the monument added up to 3086 Gulden. Hauser supported Riescher with the basin and the column and was blamed later on to delay the finalization of it. Vinzenz Hauser, a brother of Franz Xaver, was responsible for the gilding of the monument.
In 1888, the former octagonal basin of the monument was removed in order to ease the traffic and instead there was a basin attached on each side of the substructure which was designed by the sculptor Julius Seitz. The basin's carriers symbolized the four elements through stylized animal forms. In 1904, the fountain was furthermore moved 2,50m north in order to adapt to the changing tram lines. The Freiburger newspaper which stated that the Bertoldsbrunnen was still labelled as Fischbrunnen in colloquial speech at that time was incorrect since the Fischbrunnen was relocated in 1906 to a northern direction and kept its name continuously since then.
The Zähringer fountain was completely destroyed during a British airstrike on 27 November 1944. The sculptor Hugo Knittel offered to build a reconstruction of the fountain for free but the proposition was declinced by Joseph Schlippe, who was responsible for the rebuilding, because they wanted to build a 'timeless' fountain this time. Knittel's drafts were partly based on prewar photographs which were taken by Annemarie Brenzinger.
In the end, the Bertoldsbrunnen Board of Trustees, set up in 1957, decided in favor of Nikolaus Röslmeir's (1901-1977) design. His plan provided a more abstract version of the memorial, featuring a water basin (fountain) with an equestrian statue placed on a limestone pedestal with a height of 4 meters. The overall shape of the memorial is intended to refer to the Gothic ogives of Freiburg Minster. The pedestal bears the inscription „To the Dukes of Zähringen, founders and lords of Freiburg im Breisgau“. The crests of the (Swiss) Zähringer towns were not incorporated into the pedestal since they would have weakened the overall picture. A seal from mediaeval times served as a model for the equestrian statue.
In accordance with the requirements of the city council from February 1958, the fountain was funded by donations. The costs amounted to 120,000 German Marks. On November 27, 1965, the anniversary of the bombing raids of 1944, the fountain was unveiled. However, the public was not pleased with the abstract design of the bronze statue.
In 1972, the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße was turned into a pedestrian area, then, in 1979, the fountain had to be moved from the tram junction point north of the intersection to its present-day location right in the middle of the intersection.
Due to road works carried out by Freiburg Verkehrs AG and Badenova, a municipal energy provider, to modernize the rails and the sewers in this area, the fountain was not accessible from June to October 2014. In addition, the lighting of the memorial was modernized: Bertold is now illuminated by four LED lights incorporated in the water basin of the fountain.