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The while-we-wait-for-river-cruises photo quiz

notamermaid

By notamermaid,
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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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This is the story in brief and a poem written on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinzelmännchen

It is written on the plaques of the fountain.

 

Some trivia: there is agroup of six easy-going/funny modern male gnomes called the Mainzelmännchen. They appear as "fillers" in between commercials on the public TV station ZDF that has its base in Mainz and are famous for saying "Gud'n Aamd" for "Guten Abend" (good evening) . They are so much part of my childhood memories. They still have a big following and there is a fan shop in Mainz. When you are in Mainz you can see them depicted on some pedestrian traffic lights as the green and red men.

 

Looking forward to your photo, sharkster77.

 

notamermaid

 

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Renmar

Renmar

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You people are such a wealth of information about all the river cruising ports and places. Thank you, it will help us a lot to make a the right choice for our first river cruise (whenever that may be).

 

Theo

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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Hmm, let's see. Not the three wise men as there are eight. But with crowns or caps and an orb, so some status. Eight is not a typical Christian number, I would go for a legend depicted here. Flowing beards and overall appearance makes me think it may be Eastern. Perhaps Hungary?

 

notamermaid

 

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sharkster77

sharkster77

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CA you are correct!  Actually, the sculpture is in the park that lies between the Rhine and Speyer Cathedral.  It represents the 8 emperors/kings entombed in the cathedral's crypt.

 

Interestingly, what's in front of the cathedral is the Bishop's Goblet.  It's an enormous goblet that a new bishop would fill with wine for the townfolk to gain their favor:

 

CA, your turn.................

20191007_112251.jpg

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dogs4fun

dogs4fun

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'Des Fährmanns Traum' (Ferryman's dreaming) depicts eight German emperors and is located in the so called Domgarten park in Speyer. It is part of a sculptural group that includes a ferryman.
The Fährmann (ferryman) is a figure in an old local saga where the ferryman is called by the dead German emperors to take them across the Rhine river.
 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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Aha, "the return of the eight", a legend of Speyer. I have been to Speyer since this sculpture was erected in 1987, but I had forgotten about it, I think I did not walk to the Rhine last time I was there. Still, a little embarrassing.

 

notamermaid

 

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sharkster77

sharkster77

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3 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Is it coincidence that they squat around an object that looks uncannily like the alloy of the car wheel of that black not-so-cheap model in the background? A bit weird...

 

notamermaid

 

I asked myself if that was a nozzle for a fountain, or a hubcap??

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dogs4fun

dogs4fun

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So, an Asian sculpture, “the meeting”, which includes a hubcap at its center. Does it represent a meeting among Asian car manufacturers? Most of the photos that I have seen don’t include the hubcap - maybe this is what you meant by the sculpture moving around?

AFAIK, this sculpture now resides in a city that begins with the letter “B”.

Would be interested to know the significance of the sculpture.

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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It is called "Meeting" by Wang Shugang. It is red for the significance of the colour in China and eight as "eight" in Chinese sounds similar to "wealth" and is also to point to the 1989 protest.  The uniformity of the figures is to symbolize censorship. It has a permanent place at the square since 2016.

I cannot link to the info as it is connected to an online travel agent.

 

Yes, aaall right, a modern sculpture. But I really want to know why there is a hub cap? Okay, call me weird.

 

notamermaid

 

 

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Renmar

Renmar

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21 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Yes, aaall right, a modern sculpture. But I really want to know why there is a hub cap? Okay, call me weird.

The car company trying to cash in on free advertising maybe? On other pictures of the same subjects those 8 were just sitting on the grass.

 

Theo

 

Theo

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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38 minutes ago, Renmar said:

The car company trying to cash in on free advertising maybe? On other pictures of the same subjects those 8 were just sitting on the grass.

 

I suspect if Canal archive does not know we will never find out. I could not find a reference to the hub cap in German.

 

notamermaid

 

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Canal archive

Canal archive

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Renmar you’ve got it absolutely correct so next pic from you. The hub cap we had quite a discussion about it and it’s quite mundane, worse luck there had been a slight traffic accident which resulted in a car loosing one of its hub caps and some bright spark placed it there where it had been for quite a bit as it was thought it was supposed to be there. If you can believe that! CA

PS The red men reminds me of a camp fire song.

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