Elisabeth Well Schröck

A Princely Monument to Saint Elisabeth

East of Marburg lies an exceptional cultural monument: the fountain is dedicated to Landgravine Elisabeth of Thuringia, who is considered the matriarch of the Hessian princely house. The sandstone façade, glowing reddish amidst dense beech greenery, is richly decorated in Renaissance style.
The landgravine is one of the most remarkable female figures of the Middle Ages. Just four years after her death, the Catholic Church canonized her as a saint in 1235. She had devoted herself selflessly to the care of the poor and the sick, and lived in poverty and asceticism in Marburg. In 1596, Landgrave Ludwig IV of Hesse-Marburg had the spring named after Elisabeth encased in sandstone. With this fountain, he created a monument both to his ancestress and to the newly established Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg, which arose in 1567 after the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse.

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