Kleiner Roland, Bremen

The monument Kleiner Roland, also called Rolandbrunnen, stands in Bremen's Neustadt, at the southern end of Neuer Markt. It is included in the list of monuments and statues of the city of Bremen.

The fountain column was created in 1737, probably in the workshop of the sculptor Theophilus Wilhelm Frese. It is made of Obernkirchen sandstone, also often called Bremen stone because of its frequent use in Bremen. The base of the fountain is decorated with a particularly beautiful ornamentation. In Bremen, the workshop of Frese, Bremen's most famous Baroque sculptor, produced, among other things, the facade decoration of 1755 on the house of the Stadtsparkasse, a sarcophagus and an epitaph in Bremen Cathedral and other works in the Focke Museum.

The Bremen Roland from 1404 on the Bremen market square is the symbol of civil rights and freedoms for the people of Bremen. The Neustadt in the south of Bremen only came into being from the 17th century after the expansion of Bremen's city fortifications. The citizens of Neustadt, with trades not bound by guilds, such as shoemakers or cigar makers, had only very limited civil rights since 1642. They therefore self-confidently erected their own Roland. The figure was donated by the 1st Neustadt Citizens' Company in 1737 and placed as an ornament to the public fountain in the horse corridor of Osterstraße in the Old Neustadt. It was modeled after the Roland in the Old Town but called "Little Roland" because of its modest dimensions. "You have the big one standing there, we put the small one there. We are not the big city, we are the small one and the appendage, but we are just as much a city as you are", the city lords of New Town are said to have said at that time. It bears the inscription: "Stand then calmly RuhlandsbildSteh standest and unshakenUnter deines Kaysers SchildLas den Neid schon erbittertBleibt dich Gott und Karol holdGläntst dein Glück und SegensgoldBis dis ganse Rund zersplittert.Erste Compagnie LieutenantHinrich WorninhhusenAnno 1737 "In 1899, the Rolandbrunnen was moved to the north end of the Neuer Markt and in 1965 to its south end, in front of the new St. Pauli Church.Pauli church. It is listed as a historical monument.