Frauenbrunnen

The Frauenbrunnen stands in the courtyard of the ‘An Farina’ building in Cologne’s old town. It is a terracotta sculpture of ten women from Cologne’s past two thousand years, arranged in chronological order. The figures represent different eras, from a woman of the Ubii tribe in 50 AD to a modern woman from 1987. The sculpture was created by Anneliese Langenbach and her son Claus. It was unveiled in 1987 during a festival marking the completion of the ‘An Farina’ complex. The city’s development company commissioned the work, while the Cologne City Museum provided the historical suggestions. In 1999, a fence and metal cover were added to protect visitors to the World Economic Summit, including Bill Clinton, and since then the fountain has no longer flowed. Visitors find the Frauenbrunnen in a small circular plaza surrounded by the building’s walls. The figures stand on a round base about 1.35 metres high, each roughly 1.20 metres tall. Their clothing and hairstyles reflect the fashions of their times, though the colours have faded and the terracotta shows signs of weathering. The modern figure from 1987 caused debate for its conservative portrayal of a woman as a mother with a child. The figures stand in a row, facing forward without interaction, representing a moment frozen in time.