Fairytale fountain

In the centre of the town of Steinau, on the market square "Am Kumpen", the historic buildings still stand today as they did in the time of the Grimms: the town hall, the castle, the school that the Grimm children attended and St. Catherine's Church, where the Grimm family went to church on Sundays and where Jacob Grimm was confirmed. These historic buildings are lined up around the impressive fairytale fountain.

The fountain, created by the Würzburg sculptor W. Finger-Rokitnitz, shows well-known and lesser-known fairytales by the Brothers Grimm arranged over three drums.

A column protrudes from the centre of the circular fountain, around which fairytale motifs are placed in relief, connected by plant forms. The materials selected for the fountain, limestone and sandstone, give the fountain its fairytale appearance. Further fairytale figures can be admired on the edge of the fountain: a water-spouting dragon, a crab and a princess. The frog king sits in the fountain basin. The two figures of the princess and the frog king are made of bronze and represent the characteristic figures of the fountain.

The four-metre-high fountain column is topped off with a castle rock carved in the shape of a chapter, which is adorned with Sleeping Beauty's castle and "The Bird of Prey", which rises into the air.
Since 2017, the book "Brothers Grimm - Children's and Household Tales at the Fairytale Fountain in Steinau an der Straße", published by the storyteller Margot Dernesch and illustrated by Katharina Cranz, has featured all 19 fairytales that can be admired on the fountain.