Heinzelmännchen – Cologne's House Spirits and Their Fountain
Legend, sculpture, and city history combined: the Heinzelmännchen Fountain near Cologne Cathedral tells the tale of industrious night spirits who were once watched one time too many.
According to a Cologne legend, the Heinzelmännchen – small, pointy-hatted house spirits – would secretly carry out the work of sleeping citizens under cover of night, until they were caught in the act and vanished for good. Their fountain on the street Am Hof keeps this tradition alive to this day.
At a Glance
- Type
- City fountain with reliefs and sculptures
- Location
- Am Hof street, near Cologne Cathedral, opposite the Früh brewhouse
- Year built
- 1899–1900
- Designers
- Architect Heinrich Renard (1868–1928) and sculptor Edmund Renard the Elder (1830–1905)
- Donor
- Kölner Verschönerungsverein (Cologne Beautification Society), marking the 100th birthday of August Kopisch (1799–1853)
- Special feature
- The original sculpture of the tailor's wife is housed in the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum in the Zeughaus Köln; a more weather-resistant copy stands at the fountain itself
Source: Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-06-25
Origins of the Legend
The Cologne legend first appears in writing in 1826 in a work by Cologne author Ernst Weyden (1805–1869), with the note "passed down orally." It gained widespread popularity through an 1836 verse adaptation by the painter and poet August Kopisch (1799–1853), who relocated an originally Rhenish legend from the Siebengebirge hills to Cologne. A possible source is a legend first recorded orally in 1816 and preserved in the Brothers Grimm collection of folk tales.
Structure of the Fountain
The fountain's central element is a circular segment, at whose heart sits a trefoil-shaped granite basin. Above it, a double staircase rises to where the tailor's wife stands holding a lantern, casting its light on the Heinzelmännchen tumbling down on either side. On the central pillar below, the key line from Kopisch's poem is inscribed: "Neugierig war des Schneiders Weib" ("Curious was the tailor's wife"). A sandstone balustrade extends in both directions, bearing eight reliefs: six depict the nightly labours of the carpenter, joiner, baker, butcher, innkeeper, and tailor, while the remaining two carry excerpts from the poem in Fraktur script. On the back of the fountain, an owl perches on a book clutching a magnifying glass in its talons – a symbol of wisdom and learning, while the book and glass allude to the literary work of August Kopisch.
Gallery
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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-25