Herkulesbrunnen

The Herkulesbrunnen stands beside the surviving western stretch of Worms’s medieval city wall, a few metres above the surrounding streets. It crowns the old rampart with a two-tier cascade and a grotto-like upper section. The wall itself, protected as a monument, once enclosed the city and now supports the fountain’s structure. The fountain was commissioned in the late 19th century by Cornelius Wilhelm von Heyl zu Herrnsheim. He used the site as part of the landscaped park around his Heylshof villa. The design echoes an 18th-century grotto at Veitshöchheim Palace, though that original was destroyed in 1945. A statue once stood inside the Worms grotto, carved by Ferdinand Tietz, but recent research shows it represented a ‘Moor’ rather than Hercules. Visitors find a brick core encased in lime tufa blocks, held together by mortar and iron rods. A small iron staircase leads up to the top of the city wall behind the fountain. The grotto’s interior is now empty, its figure removed to the Heylshof museum. Restoration work is under way to repair corrosion damage, supported by the city, the museum and the German Federal Environmental Foundation.