The Fountains at Schlossplatz

This post is dedicated to the memory of Trish, a wonderful photographer from Canada, who had such appreciation for and gave the most supportive and encouraging words to the rest of us regarding our own photography. I will miss your kind words, Trish. Fly high!

North fountain in front of the Neues Schloss (New Palace) in Stuttgart

The two massive fountains that grace the park in front of the New Palace in central Stuttgart are quite beautiful. And they are huge. They date back to 1863, the year before King Wilhelm I died at Rosenstein Palace, not too far away.

The fountains were meant as birthday gifts to His Majesty. At the base of each fountain are four figures, each representing the four of principal rivers that flow through what is today the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. As there are two fountains, that of course brings the total number of such figures to eight, although there are many more than eight rivers in Württemberg.

The names of the rivers represented on the fountain to the left, when facing the palace, are the Jagst, Donau, Tauber and the Nagold. On the fountain to the right, which is to the south, are the Neckar, Kocher, Fils and Enz.  The fountains were cast in Wasseralfingen, which is today a part of the city of Aalen.

Galatea Fountain, Eugenplatz

(© Copyright 2012)

Eugenplatz in Stuttgart: Queen Olga of Württemberg, consort of King Karl I, gave this fountain known as the Galatea fountain to the people of Stuttgart in 1890, only two years before her death. It was paid for in part with her private funds. The queen chose the designs of Otto Rieth for what we see today. It was erected to contribute toward the beautification of the city. It was damaged only slightly during the Second World War and was completely renovated between 2005 and 2007.

    The goddess Galatea                               (© Copyright 2012)

                                           The Galatea Fountain at Eugenplatz          (© Copyright 2012)

Queen Olga is still regarded today as one who cared greatly for her subjects' welfare. Together with King Karl, she also founded a hospital which still bears their names even today. Queen Olga, born a Russian grand duchess, is probably the best-remembered of Württemberg's five queen consorts.

(© Copyright 2012)

Despite the plans drawn up by some prominent architects which were preferred by the committee overseeing the construction, it was Queen Olga who overrode their decision and chose the architect Rieth over the others.

(© Copyright 2012)

Donated

by Her Majesty

the Queen

Olga

of

Württemberg

-:-

With the financial support

of the royal capital of

Stuttgart

Erected by the Society

for the Promotion of Art 

1890

                                                                                  

 

(© Copyright 2012)

Eugenplatz affords a great view of the city. Across the tram lines from the actual fountain is an ice-cream store purported to be "the best ice-cream" in the city. It's called "Pinguin". You can't miss it.  The lines are certainly long on hot summer days and I have even enjoyed it myself, but I am not going to speak for anyone else on the topic of food and taste. 

Your writer heard a wonderful story from a Stuttgart lady about the goings-on around the realization of the hefty project to construct the fountain: It was heard that the conservative people of Stuttgart were pleased to receive the fountain, but when they heard a nude statue of the goddess would be atop the finished work, there was grumbling about the immodesty thereof. When the complaints got back to the queen, it is said that she made it clear that if they didn't like it then she would have the statue turned around so that the godedess' backside would face out over Stuttgart. 

It isn't really known if that was true or not but it surely makes a good story. Queen Olga was apparently a rather benevolent lady. Her marriage to the king was in fact a sad one, and as stated above, she still did what she could for the people with the little money she actually had. She had wanted to be more involved in somehow making positive improvements toward the lives of the citizens. She was in fact an intelligent woman and probably could have been of some practical and worthy influence over her husband the king, who was hardly interested in ruling, but that never really panned out and she stayed in the background. He left her alone to be away from court as much as possible. More on them in another post later. 

(© Copyright 2012)