Märchenbrunnen im Volkspark Friedrichshain

Fifty-Three Hectares of Park and an Art Nouveau Complex

Volkspark Friedrichshain is Berlin’s oldest public park, and at around fifty-three hectares, it’s large enough to get lost in. The first groundbreaking took place in 1846, with Gustav Meyer providing the design based on a plan by Peter Joseph Lenné. Today, it features sunbathing lawns and playgrounds, a hippodrome with an eight hundred and twenty-meter long track, a skate park, a beer garden, a scent and accessible garden, and two rubble hills with a toboggan run. At the western tip of the park, where the street Am Friedrichshain passes by, lies the Fountain of Fairytales. It’s hard to miss: a cascade utilizes the gently rising terrain, behind it opens up a square with a round fountain and a semicircular arcade, framed by hedges, stone benches with decorative pillars, and wrought-iron portals. The benches are why a meeting here doesn’t have to be just a brief stop. Old trees surround the complex, providing pleasant shade in midsummer and separating it from the rest of the park.

Ten Figures from the Brothers Grimm Fairytales

The actual attraction are the figures. Ignatius Taschner created ten figures from the Brothers Grimm fairytales between 1912 and 1913, which stand around the basin: Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots, Lucky Hans, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White with the Seven Dwarfs. Fourteen stone animals by Josef Rauch sit on the balustrade, and on the sides, herms by Georg Wrba look down, including Mother Holle and Rübezahl. In addition, there are frogs that spout water. The complex was created based on a concept by city architect Ludwig Hoffmann and opened in 1913, then as the largest public fountain complex in the city and one of Berlin’s most significant Art Nouveau structures. It has been a protected monument since 1959, and between 2002 and 2007, it was thoroughly renovated, and the destroyed figures were recreated based on historical templates. Guessing the fairytales already provides a topic for your first stroll. There is no entrance fee for the Fountain of Fairytales, and because it is located at the edge of the park, a visit can be combined with a walk through Volkspark without a detour.