Mosaikbrunnen

The Mosaikbrunnen stands in the Great Garden in Dresden’s Altstadt quarter. It was built for the 1926 horticultural jubilee exhibition to a design by Hans Poelzig and his wife Marlene Moeschke-Poelzig. The fountain’s plant-like shape and expressionist lines with oriental touches set it apart from its surroundings. Around half a million mosaic tiles in earth brown, grey, green, blue, orange, yellow and gold cover its three stylised blooms and round basin. The water jets overshoot the rim because the basin diameter and fall height were miscalculated. The fountain was almost removed after the exhibition but Poelzig and the mosaic workshop Puhl & Wagner successfully argued for its permanent place. August Wagner’s Berlin workshop built the hollow-concrete core faced with the mosaic. The city’s mayor Bernhard Blüher promised to keep it as a decorative feature of the Great Garden. Repeated bomb damage, frost and salt corrosion later required major restorations in 1994 and again in 2006–07. Visitors find the fountain on a cross-path lined with tall trees in the south-western part of the Great Garden. The basin now holds fresh drinking water and is surrounded by benches. New pumps, lighting and stainless-steel reinforcement were installed during the latest repairs. The repaired fountain was switched on again in 2016 and remains a colourful landmark against the darker greenery.