“Peace you who love peace read. I am the goddess of peace who conquered and overthrew the bloody god of war Mars. Now I have opened this fountain of peace according to the vow of the council and citizens of Dresden in the year 1650.” These words etched into the Friedensbrunnen in Dresden’s Old Town whisper a tale of war and peace. This is Brunnen I a significant part of Dresden’s history.
The Friedensbrunnen or Turk’s Fountain is one of Dresden’s oldest fountains. Its octagonal basin measures 4.5 meters by 4.5 meters. Three eight-rayed rosettes decorate each side. A granite curb surrounds the 1.4-meter-deep basin. In the center stands an octagonal column on a square pedestal. A water-spouting mask adorns the column. Oval reliefs with Latin inscriptions decorate the column. The sculpture atop the pedestal is Bellona the goddess of war.
Originally located on the east side of the Neumarkt the fountain started as a simple wooden pipe. Johann Friedrich Steger created the octagonal basin in 1616. A Samson figure with a water-spouting lion was initially planned. The city council however couldn’t agree on a design and balked at the cost.
After the Thirty Years’ War Christoph Abraham Walther sculpted Eirene the goddess of peace in 1649/50. Following Saxony’s victory at the Battle of Kahlenberg against the Turks Eirene was replaced in 1683. Conrad Max Süssner’s Bellona statue replaced her. The inscription changed too celebrating the war-like John George III. The fountain became known as the John George Fountain Victoria Fountain or Turk’s Fountain.
When a monument to King Frederick Augustus II was erected on the Neumarkt in 1866 the Friedensbrunnen moved to its current location on Jüdenhof. Sculptor Egmar Ponndorf restored the fountain in 1969 placing a copy of the original sculpture. The Friedensbrunnen stands as a quiet testament to Dresden’s past its conflicts and ultimately its enduring peace. Its story is one of change adaptation and the continuous search for harmony. The water flowing from its mask seems to echo the city’s own resilient spirit.