Donaunixenbrunnen

The Donaunixenbrunnen is a fountain in the Innere Stadt district of Vienna. It stands in the six-sided Basarhof, a courtyard within the Palais Ferstel shopping arcade between Freyung and Herrengasse. The fountain reaches six metres high with a basin three and a quarter metres wide. The basin is carved from Adneter marble, while the bronze figures and column weigh about 4,200 kilograms. Three water nymphs rise from the marble basin, joining hands around the central column. The fountain was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, who also planned the Palais Ferstel as a bank building. Anton Dominik Ritter von Fernkorn shaped and cast the bronze parts, and stone mason Anton Wasserburger carved the marble basin. The bronze figures include a merchant, a shipbuilder, and a fisherman above a smaller basin supported by foliage and three water-spouting birds. At the top of the column stands a figure of a woman representing the Danube, her right hand raised and holding a small fish. Visitors find the fountain in a covered courtyard lit by natural light. Water flows from the raised basin through the beaks of the bird sculptures into the lower basin. The surrounding arcade walls are clad in polished stone, reflecting the fountain’s bronze and marble surfaces. The courtyard’s hexagonal shape frames the fountain so that it can be viewed from several angles.