Erbsenbrunnen (Bad Cannstatt)

The Erbsenbrunnen stands in Marktstraße in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt. It is a small fountain created in 1929 by the sculptor Fritz von Graevenitz. Before this, an older iron fountain had occupied the same spot. The name comes from the soft water it once provided, ideal for soaking peas and beans. After the Neckar was regulated in the 1920s, the original spring was buried. Today it draws water from the Kellerbrunnenquelle through a ring main that also feeds other fountains in the old town. The fountain’s centrepiece is a figure of a naked boy standing upright on a giant pea. He holds a water jug high with his left arm. The pea bears the date 1929 and water spouts from four short pipes into a hexagonal basin below. The jug and pea recall the days when people fetched water here for cooking. In 1948, after wartime damage, von Graevenitz recast the boy. Recent restorations in 2000 and 2018 kept the fountain in good repair. Visitors see a modest but striking stone fountain made of Cannstatter Travertin. The boy’s pose is upright and deliberate, his back straight. Water from the pea flows into the basin, where it can be drunk. The scene is quiet, set among the shops and cafés of Bad Cannstatt’s market street.