Badestubenbrunnen

The Badestubenbrunnen stands in Bremen’s old quarter, the Schnoor, beside the Stavendamm near the Schifferhaus. It is a bronze sculpture called Beim Bade, also known as Die fröhlichen Badenden, mounted on a granite pedestal. The work was created in 1986 by the sculptor Jürgen Cominotto and donated by the Schnoor-Verein Heini Holtenbeen. The fountain commemorates the days when the Schnoor had public bathhouses. In the Middle Ages people had no bathrooms at home and so visited communal Badestuben. The street name Stavendamm even hints at a bathhouse, since Stave means ‘room’ in the local dialect. The original bronze pair was stolen in December 2007 and replaced the following May by a ten-year-old cast bought for about ten thousand euros by local sponsors. Today visitors find the new bronze figures on their granite base in the heart of the Schnoor. The narrow lanes and gabled houses around the fountain still give a sense of medieval Bremen. Nearby, two other works by Cominotto can be seen in public spaces, one bronze and one sandstone, adding to the city’s outdoor gallery.