Tag: Mainz

A fool by any other name

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This is one of more than 200 figures and faces on the Fastnachtsbrunnen (carnival fountain) in Mainz. Mainz, together with Cologne, is the stronghold of German carnival and this fountain is an hommage to the fifth season of the year.

Monday Portrait

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Blue Windows

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The Stephanskirche in Mainz has 9 large panels of blue windows by Marc Chagall. Works of art, symbols of reconciliation between Judaism and Christendom, they show wonderful hues of blue. Apparently they also show biblical scenes but for the life of me – I can’t … Continue reading Blue Windows

Not a happy post

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When I recently visited the city of Mainz with my sister we were a bit puzzled by all the sculptures and monuments we encountered to be wearing a yellow sash (turns out they were meant to represent gold).

From Johann Gutenberg (who together with Peter Schöffer invented book printing as we knew it until recently in Mainz) to a carnival fool (Mainz together with Cologne is the heartland of German carnival) to a naked lady holding two fish (I have no idea why but she looks nice), and quite a few others.

At first we thought it was a prank and it took us a while to get a decent look at the QR-code to figure out the meaning of the gold sash or ribbon:

Mainz wears gold. A sign for children with cancer.

It was a campaign to support the international childhood cancer awareness month.I learned that different varieties of cancer have different coloured ribbons, as well as other illnesses and causes.

Cancer occurs in children and adults. Cancer is a bitch – and that’s putting it mildly.

FOWC with Fandango: Occurring