St Elisabeth’s fountain in Basel

One great thing about blogging and challenges is that they make you look at your environment differently, I must have walked past this fountains so many times, however I never really noticed it until I was thinking about fountains. This fountain is still running, however, it’s so attractive I wanted to share it, as a “freebie”! The fountain’s statue is of St Elisabeth. The fountain has stood at this site since 1862.

More on the fountain, courtesy of someone anonymous who has made the effort to pull together information on all the fountains in Basel (website). some help from googletranslate with a bit of adaptation by me:

The Elisabeth  well has two basins and the wellstock is tri-partitite. The sculpture of stone depicts St. Elizabeth (she lived from 1207 – 1231) who strove for voluntary poverty. She was canonized already four years after her death and is considered a “patron of the beggars”. She is depicted holding  a pot of water and a loaf of bread in her hands.  Below the status there is a Basilisk, holding a coat of arms of the city of Basle. At the same height on the opposite side there are two bronze swans, from whose beaks water flows. The bottom trough receives its water through two dolphin shaped overflows.