{"id":29810,"date":"2021-02-26T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=29810"},"modified":"2025-02-13T18:56:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T17:56:02","slug":"austriabrunnen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/austriabrunnen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Austriabrunnen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/austriabrunnensmall.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/austriabrunnensmall.jpg\" alt=\"Austria figure on top of a fountain\" class=\"wp-image-29811\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/austriabrunnensmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/austriabrunnensmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not going to lie. The Austriabrunnen on the Freyung square rarely makes an appearance on any tourist top 10 lists. But this small fountain shows how &#8220;insignificant&#8221; features within a city like Vienna hide so much historical detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mid-19th century bronze, granite and limestone fountain<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Representations of great rivers hint at the power of the Austrian Empire<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Book a themed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/vienna-city-tours-l205280\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_CityTours\" rel=\"sponsored\">guided tour<\/a>* for your visit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See other famous Viennese fountains:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/schonbrunn\/neptune-fountain\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"15263\">Neptune fountain<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/albrechtsbrunnen-danubiusbrunnen\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"32741\">Albrechtsbrunnen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/hochstrahlbrunnen-fountain\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"30035\">Hochstrahlbrunnen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/donnerbrunnen\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"61495\">Donnerbrunnen<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Imperial figures and rivers<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/austriabrunnen2.jpg\" alt=\"The Austriabrunnen on the Freyung\" class=\"wp-image-47723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/austriabrunnen2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/austriabrunnen2-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The fountain with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/schottenkirche\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"27651\">Schottenkirche<\/a> church behind)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brunnen means fountain in German, which makes translating Austriabrunnen into English relatively easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It might seem unimaginative to name something for the country it stands in, but the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/culture\/austrian-empire\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12856\">Austrian Empire<\/a> was still relatively young at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Also, the authorities in Vienna have never been reluctant to do a bit of patriotic showboating in bronze and stone.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five allegorical figures make up the main part of the fountain, which was first revealed to the public in 1846.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/austriabrunnen3.jpg\" alt=\"The Austriabrunnen fountain at night\" class=\"wp-image-68314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/austriabrunnen3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/austriabrunnen3-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The fountain casts shadows on historical walls at night)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The top figure is the personification of the empire. Armed with lance and shield, the berobed Austria looks across the square in the direction of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sightseeing\/hofburg\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"2708\">Hofburg<\/a> (former home to the emperor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The four figures lower down offer a more intriguing story, however. Each stands for a river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But not just any old rivers: the Elbe, Danube, Po, and Vistula represent some of Europe&#8217;s greatest waterways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each river also passed through part of the Austrian Empire at the time, and each discharged its waters into a different sea.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"337\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/austriabrunnen1850.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a 19th century allegorical fountain\" class=\"wp-image-80327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/austriabrunnen1850.jpg 337w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/austriabrunnen1850-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The fountain photographed by Andreas Groll sometime between 1850 and 1870; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 61460; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As such, the Austriabrunnen encapsulated the extent and influence of the Habsburg monarchy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Elbe would have crossed much of the Austrian crown lands of Bohemia on its way to the North Sea<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Danube passed directly through Vienna and Hungary on its way to the Black Sea<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Po skirted the southernmost parts of the Austria-ruled Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and emerged into the Adriatic Sea below Venice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On its journey northward to the Baltic Sea, the Vistula marked much of the border of Austria-ruled Galicia with the Kingdom of Poland<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The inscription running around the plinth that holds the four river figures reads (my rough translation):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Erected by the citizens of Vienna during the rule of Ferdinand I<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/austriabrunnen.jpg\" alt=\"Austriabrunnen fountain\" class=\"wp-image-43294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/austriabrunnen.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/austriabrunnen-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(&#8220;Austria&#8221; sits atop the installation)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The contract for designing the fountain went to Ludwig von Schwanthaler in Munich (outside the empire!), where Ferdinand Miller&#8217;s foundry also cast the various bronze figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schwanthaler&#8217;s other works include such relatively famous pieces as the Mozart monument in Salzburg (not to be confused with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/footsteps\/mozart-monument-burggarten\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"5870\">Vienna equivalent<\/a>) and the giant Bavaria statue outside Munich&#8217;s colonnaded Ruhmeshalle &#8220;hall of fame&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Miller&#8217;s work had an even wider impact. He cast, for example, the Columbus doors of the main entrance to the Capitol Building (!) in Washington DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The response to the fountain seems to have been positive: the city made Schwanthaler an honorary citizen in 1847 for his watery contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get to the Austriabrunnen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The fountain sits in the middle of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/freyung-2\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"29646\">Freyung<\/a>. Follow the link for travel tips and extensive information on the many historical buildings around this square with its intimate ties to a 12th century abbey neighbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Freyung, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1qE67z-6ZUivs0H9TxrZDHWDR9ObImqBL\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m not going to lie. The Austriabrunnen on the Freyung square rarely makes an appearance on any tourist top 10 lists. But this small fountain shows how &#8220;insignificant&#8221; features within a city like Vienna hide so much historical detail. Imperial figures and rivers (The fountain with the Schottenkirche church behind) Brunnen means fountain in German, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sights","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29810"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80328,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29810\/revisions\/80328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}