Lösch Fountain

History of the work

On the west wall of the house at Münstergasse 3, just east of the iron gate to Münstergasse, a small drinking fountain of limestone, granite and bronze stands on the Münsterplattform. It was made in 1927 to a design by the architect Karl Indermühle. According to Wikipedia the water flows from a phoenix, and a plaque names the man it honours in the spelling 'HEINR PHILIPP LÖSCH'.

The fountain commemorates Heinrich Philipp Loesch, who was born in Griesheim in 1826 and died in Bern in 1896. He had his shoemaker's workshop at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 69 and owned the house at Postgasse 26. As a childless widower who had never been naturalised, he made the municipality of Bern his sole heir on 14 December 1888. The interest on his fortune was to pay for the upkeep and restoration of the city's monumental fountains and fountain figures. Today the fountain is run by Energie Wasser Bern.

Karl Indermühle, born in Vendlincourt in 1877, trained as a stonemason from 1892 under the Minster architect August Müller. As early as 1900 he succeeded him as head of the Minster workshop, a post later also held by his son and grandsons. He was one of the founders of the Bernese Heimatschutz and of the Federation of Swiss Architects, built churches such as the Friedenskirche in Bern and, in 1914, the 'Dörfli' at the national exhibition. With the Stapfenacker school in Bümpliz he turned to modern architecture in 1932. He died in 1933.

The place suits the work: the Münsterplattform lies in front of the Minster whose workshop Indermühle ran. Until 1531 the terrace was a cemetery; since then it has been a public park. Taking a drink here, you can read on the plaque to whom Bern's fountains owe part of their care.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Heinrich Philipp Loesch · Wikidata: Lösch-Brunnen (Q28650354) · Wikidata: Heinrich Philipp Loesch (Q86071671) · Wikimedia Commons: Lösch-Brunnen (Karl Indermühle 1927) · HLS: Karl Indermühle (Anne-Marie Biland) · Wikipedia (de): Karl Indermühle · Wikipedia (de): Münsterplattform