Neptunbrunnen / Neptune Fountain

Josef Rikus’s Neptune Fountain is a landmark in the city of Paderborn. As early as 1730, the first Neptune Fountain was erected on the Domplatz as a gift from Prince-Bishop Clemens August. Previously, there had already been two additional fountains that were located near the cathedral and belonged to the city waterworks, which was one of the earliest central supply systems in Germany. The old Neptune Fountain was destroyed in an air raid in 1945. For the city’s 1200th anniversary in 1977, a citizen’s initiative donated a new fountain and commissioned Josef Rikus for its execution. This is how the city got a new Neptune in 1979. In Paderborn, the Roman god of flowing waters is often evoked in reference to numerous sources pertaining to the Pader river. The larger than life depiction of Neptune is situated in the center of a round stone basin. He can be identified by the characteristic trident in his hand. While the head and parts of the upper body have a relatively natural appearance, the lower body increasingly decomposes downward into layered abstract horizontal segments. The segments are bathed in water from below and some even serve as water spouts. In this way, the artist represents the water’s simultaneously formative and decomposing forces.