Schaezler Fountain

The fountain at solstice. Auxburg (Atlas Obscura User)

Adjacent to the city forest, the Siebentischanlagen is actually a separate, manmade landscape park. After the park was constructed on former farmland in 1908, the Edmund Freiherr von Schaezler-Brunnen (Schaezler Fountain) was designed to honor Baron Edmund von Schaezler, one of the donors responsible for the park.

The fountain itself is part of the so-called “Green Basilica”. The location of oak trees denote outer walls of a church and the fountain marks the location of the altar. It’s said to be the only green basilica in Germany.

The place was nearly forgotten and unrecognizable for many years until 2011 when the city’s garden office restored the fountain.

It’s remarkable that the whole site is orientated on a pagan point of reference. Only in the evening of the solstice, if visitors take a seat on the bench at the elevation behind the fountain at 9:21 p.m. local time, visitors will face the sunset exactly in the center of the arch portal above the fountain.

Know Before You Go

Exact coordinates: 48°20'35.7"N 10°54'54.9"E / 48.343246, 10.915245 (or search for "Schaetzler-Brunnen" in your navigation app).

Natural springs in the adjacent forest are the main source of drinking water for the whole town. There are several smaller fountains providing drinking water in closer proximity. Whether a fountain provides drinking water or not is always marked by signage.