Narrenschiffbrunnen

The Ship of Fools Fountain (Narrenschiffbrunnen) in Nuremberg is a bronze sculpture 3.60 meters (about 12 feet) tall by sculptor Jürgen Weber, installed in 1988 on a square between Museumsbrücke and Plobenhofstraße. The work draws on Albrecht Dürer's woodcuts for Sebastian Brant's moral satire "The Ship of Fools." It shows a ship as a metaphor for a threatened world, crowded with expressively sculpted figures that depict scenes such as the expulsion from Paradise and the allegory of violence. Two ribbons of text running around the piece appeal against environmental destruction, war, and violence. Although the artist originally planned a working water supply, the sculpture still stands dry on a cobbled mound in the pedestrian zone, because the city council rejected completing it as a fountain.