Heinzelmännchenbrunnen

The Heinzelmännchenbrunnen features a stone relief of the legendary house gnomes of Cologne. According to local folklore, these invisible helpers performed all the manual labor for the city's craftspeople at night, allowing the citizens to sleep late. One baker’s wife, desperate to see them, scattered dried peas on the stairs to make them trip and reveal themselves. The gnomes took offense, vanished forever, and left the residents to do their own work. Sculptor Edmund Renard designed the fountain in eighteen ninety-nine.