Gänseliesel-Brunnen

The Gänseliesel-Brunnen stands in the centre of Hannover, a bronze statue of a girl tending geese. It was made by Carl Dopmeyer and first unveiled in 1898. For most of the 20th century it occupied a spot on An der Goseriede, a street named for the old goose-grazing grounds nearby. In 1981 the statue was taken down for underground railway work and two years later returned to a newly laid-out Steintorplatz. In August 2024 it was removed again during further redesign of the square. The figure shows a girl in a simple dress holding a goose, set on a stone base that once carried water. The name Goseriede comes from the Low German word for a place where geese were let out to feed on marshy ground. Similar place names appear across Hannover, such as An der Strangriede and the Eilenriede woodland. The statue itself weighs several hundred kilograms and is cast in bronze. Visitors now find the square empty, with only the outline of the former fountain basin visible. Plans call for the Gänseliesel to be reinstalled on the smaller Goseriedeplatz, a few hundred metres away near its original home. The new setting will sit beside a quiet stretch of the old goose meadows, linking past and present in the city’s layout.