Ship Masks Fountain Sculpture (Schiffsmasken-Brunnen)

In the city center of Duisburg, the city with the largest inland port in Europe, three monumental metal surfaces rise up from water-filled basins and end in stepped shapes. They resemble the frontal view of ships and at the same time look like masks. Water rising strongly and hitting the metal creates a bow wave in the basin.
The dynamics are limited by the small size of the individual basins and their integration into a three-part square base, and yet the movement of more or less large ship fronts in the water is recognizable. The sculptor Thomas Virnich has given these ships a stepped gable at the top instead of a railing. It formally refers to the facade of the nearby "Three Gable House", the oldest house in the city (source: ruhrkunstmuseen.com)

Inspired by the Duisburg harbor, these three fountain sculptures rise around 10 meters above the Duisburg fountain mile on Königstrasse at Kuhtor. These show the frontal view of ships, at the same time their bow shapes resemble masks and the upper end resembles the nearby oldest house in the city, the three-gable house. These shapes appear again in the approximately 100 square meter water basin in the three-part square base.

The fountain from 1991 is on the corner of Sonnenwall and Kuhtor. Thomas Virnich designed the fountain sculpture.