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Gottingen (Deutschland). "Ganseliesen" - Gottingen (Germania). "La ragazza delle oche"

English:

The Gänseliesel (English: Goose Girl, Goose Lizzy (Liesel as pet name of Elisabeth)) is a fountain which was erected in 1901 in front of the mediaeval town hall of Göttingen, Germany. Although rather small in size, the fountain is the best-known landmark of the city. Today, it is an essential part of graduation celebrations, for every student who finishes a doctorate at the University of Göttingen has to climb the fountain and kiss the statue of the goose girl.

Soon after the fountain was erected, newly enrolled students of the "Georg-August" university began to climb up the fountain and to kiss the statue which rapidly became a university tradition. Because the climbing of the fountain was usually celebrated with excessive consumption of alcohol and loud cheers of fellow students and because the number of students largely increased after World War I, police issued a decree in 1926 that officially forbade the climbing and kissing of the statue.

As the fountain has been subject to vandalism, the original statue of the goose girl can today be seen in the Stadtmuseum while the fountain only carries a copy. After a severe assault during the winter of 2004 (malicious arson), the fountain needed to be disassembled and underwent major restoration.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganseliesen

 

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Uploaded on April 2, 2023