Vinzenzbrunnen, Aachen

The Vinzenzbrunnen on Aachen's Münsterplatz is a fountain consecrated in 1847, created by Aachen sculptors Wilhelm Josef Wings and Gottfried Götting from a design by Friedrich Joseph Ark, then Aachen's city architect.

The fountain replaced an older fountain that stood in the same place. The present fountain casing, made of Heilbronn sandstone, originally stood on two steps and was designed to match the Gothic style of the adjacent choir hall, St. Anne's Chapel and St. Matthias' Chapel of Aachen Cathedral. Built on a square ground plan, the column is decorated on all four sides with statues housed in niches. For financial reasons, however, the figural decoration could not be completed until 1877. The figures are from the hand of Götting. Above the niches, the fountain is decorated with a turret in the center and eight pinnacles, the four smaller ones on the sides behind the gables of the niches, the others above the edges of the fountain.

The side facing Aachen Cathedral is decorated with a figure of Mary, which is why the fountain is sometimes called Mary's Fountain or Mary's Column. Below the statue is the access to the fountain's water supply.

The opposite side facing the street shows the figure of St. Vincent de Paul, the saint of care for the poor and the sick. It was dedicated to the neighboring Elisabeth Hospital of the Elisabethinnen founded there in 1336 and former municipal hospital for the poor Gasthaus on desse ground today the building of the Sparkasse Aachen. Below is the water outlet worked into a sun's face with a small catch basin.

The west side shows a figure of St. Michael the Archangel. The side facing east, towards the parish church of St. Foillan, bears a figure of St. Bishop Foillan. Below each of these figures, the fountain is decorated with the coat of arms of the city.

Originally, the fountain was enclosed by a wrought-iron grille, but this was removed at the beginning of the 20th century. War damage to the fountain was repaired in 1951 by the Bardenberg sculptor Heinrich Derichs with the financial help of the then Stadtsparkasse Aachen under the direction of the monument conservator Hans Königs. Today, the fountain stands on a three-tiered, octagonal pedestal made of bluestone.