Kornmarkt square and fountain sculptures
For over 200 years, Kornmarkt square has been the site of the fruit and grain market. This traditional market is held every Tuesday and Friday with up to 60 stands selling fresh produce and locally grown food. The main attraction of this market square in the town centre is the fountain created by sculptor Karl Steiner in 1975. It portrays memorable characters from the town’s past and is a monument to ordinary people.
The fountain features the following personalities known by their nicknames in dialect: “Schandarm” (gendarme) Gustav Hermann Wiechert: he was a Prussian police officer rather partial to wine and was the bane of the market women. “De Gulasch” (the goulash) alias Heinrich Saam was known for his penchant for spicy goulash. "Debbedee" or Fritz Braun was known to countless residents and friends as a newspaper vendor, an extra on the stage at the spa theatre, theatre attendant and usher. “Es Probecks Mari” (Marie Probeck) or “Die Marri mit de Feierblos” (Marie with the fire horn): up until 1929, she alerted the townspeople with her “Tuut” (horn) when fire broke out, and was always accompanied by a cat. “Es Gänzje” (little Ganz), Franz Ganz, was a travelling musician of slight build who delighted the young and elderly alike with his barrel organ.
Another sculpture in front of the Sparkasse headquarters is a monument to the key players on the Kornmarkt square: the market stallholders touting their wares. Every Tuesday and Friday, a traditional market is held on the Kornmarkt square with up to 60 stands selling fresh produce and locally grown food.
Originally, the Kornmarkt square was home to the historical “Blücher” house, where Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher stayed from 3-6 January 1814 before continuing the campaign against Napoleon. In the 80s, this historical building had to make way for a new construction (with a historicising facade).
