Fischmarkt
About This Site
The Fischmarkt is the heart of Erfurt's old town, a square between the Domplatz and the Anger where so many markets were held in the Middle Ages that it became the centre of the city's social life.[1] The neo-Gothic Rathaus presides over it, and inside, its murals tell legends, scenes from Luther's life and the history of Erfurt.[2] Around the square stand Renaissance patrician houses that speak of the city's wealth in the early modern age — the Haus zum Roten Ochsen of 1562, home to the Kunsthalle Erfurt, and the Haus zum Breiten Herd of 1584 — and facing the town hall an armoured warrior, the Römer, stands on a column first raised in 1591.[1] It is the place to begin a day in Erfurt: a painted town hall open to visitors, Renaissance façades, contemporary art, and the Krämerbrücke just beyond the Benediktsplatz to the east.
A market that became the city's centre, 1275–1293
A deed of 1293 names the square in Latin as in foro piscium iuxta hospitale, the fish market beside the hospital. Markets of every kind were held here through the Middle Ages, and the Fischmarkt slowly grew into the social centre of Erfurt; in 1275 the city built its first town hall on the east side of the square, on the same ground the Rathaus occupies today.[1]
Haus zum Roten Ochsen, 1392–1562
The house is first recorded in 1392. In 1562 Jacob Naffzer, a woad merchant and Oberratsmeister of the city council, had it remodelled in the Renaissance style, and it is counted among the finest houses of its kind in Germany. Above the ground floor runs a frieze of the Muses and the planetary gods of antiquity, and at its centre stands the red ox with golden horns that gives the house its name. The richly decorated Renaissance hall on the first floor is used for exhibitions.[3]
Haus zum Breiten Herd, 1584–1808
On the north side, at number 13, the Haus zum Breiten Herd was built in 1584 for Heinrich von Denstedt, Stadtvogt and Ratsmeister, and it ranks among the most splendid Renaissance buildings in Erfurt. Across the first floor the five senses appear as figures after designs by Frans Floris of Antwerp — in the relief of smell, the city of Erfurt itself fills the background — carved heads peer out from the window pediments, and a Landsknecht stands on the gable top. The carving came from the workshop of Hans Friedemann the Elder; the painted Renaissance façade was reconstructed in 1968. During the Congress of Erfurt in 1808 Friedrich August I of Saxony stayed in the house, and Napoleon paid him a formal visit here with his marshals.[4]
The Römer on its column, 1591–1992
A statue of St Martin had stood in Erfurt from 1448 until it was torn down in 1525, in a rising against the Electorate of Mainz during the Peasants' War. The city council later commissioned Israel von der Milla, a Netherlander living in Erfurt, and on 6 November 1591 his "man on the column" was set up in front of the Haus zum Breiten Herd: a Roman warrior armed from head to foot, the city banner of Erfurt in his right hand, whom the people of Erfurt mostly called simply the Mann or the Römer. Over time he was given a meaning like that of a Roland and increasingly called one, until in the twentieth century he was taken off the list of Rolands again. The plinth dates from the eighteenth century; since 1886 the Römer has stood on his present site opposite the Rathaus, and in 1991/92 figure and column were conserved and given back their Renaissance colours.[5]
The old town hall makes way, 1830–1870
The old Rathaus was a complex of many buildings that had grown on this site between the early Gothic period and the end of the Renaissance.[6] Its oldest parts dated from the thirteenth century; the great hall and other sections were demolished in 1830, more followed in 1865/66, and in 1870 the rest came down, the mighty tower among them.[7] A coat-of-arms panel of 1418 on one of the courtyard sides of today's Rathaus survives from the old building, together with a few pieces in the Angermuseum.[6]
The neo-Gothic Rathaus, 1870–1935
The present Rathaus went up on the same site to plans by August Thiede and Theodor Sommer, its main parts built between 1870 and 1875.[7] Its monumental entrance hall and its carefully designed corridors and staircase represent the rise of the old Thuringian city of trade and industry at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the building has become one of Erfurt's most important landmarks.[6] In 1904/05 the east wing was lengthened with a second staircase and the council chamber, and in 1934/35 the south building and the savings bank closed the complex. The Rathaus is the seat of the city administration and its political centre, and a venue for concerts, receptions and celebrations.[7]
Erfurt's history in the Festsaal, 1878–1882
The Festsaal, the town hall's great hall, holds nine wall paintings of Erfurt's history created by Peter Janssen between 1878 and 1882, lit by four chandeliers.[8] They lead from St Boniface felling an oak sacred to the Germanic gods and St Martin, the city's patron, sharing his cloak, through Henry the Lion submitting to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at the diet held in Erfurt in November 1181 and the university founded by the citizens in 1392, to the Archbishop and Elector of Mainz riding into the city on 12 October 1664 and Erfurt's homage to its new Prussian rulers in 1803.[9] The hall of 238 square metres seats up to 198 people for concerts, weddings, lecture series and tours, with a historic Steinway grand built in New York and shipped in 1915.[8]
Legends on the stairs, 1891–1895
Eduard Kämpffer painted the staircase and corridors between 1891 and 1895 with scenes from the legend of the Count of Gleichen, the life of Luther, the Faust legend and the Tannhäuser saga.[6] The Count of Gleichen returns from the crusade with a sultan's daughter as his second wife; Faust, documented in Erfurt in 1513, summons Alexander the Great before Emperor Charles V and the one-eyed giant Polyphemus before the city's students; and on the second floor Luther's life runs from the student kneeling at a friend's bier to his ceremonial welcome in Erfurt on the way to Worms in April 1521.[9]
The Gildehaus, 1882–1893
Beside the Haus zum Breiten Herd, at numbers 14 to 16, the Gildehaus was built in two phases, in 1882/83 and 1892/93, in the neo-Renaissance style, with its Renaissance neighbour as the model.[4]
The savings bank beside the Rathaus, 1934–1935
To the right of the Rathaus stands the savings bank of 1934/35, designed by Johannes Klass in the style of the New Objectivity and today the Sparkasse Mittelthüringen.[1] A low connecting building sets off the contrast of the two styles and at the same time joins the younger architecture to the older. Sculptures by Hans Walter beneath the projecting gable over the bank's main entrance show human vices — avarice, envy, sloth, stupidity, vanity and gluttony — and twelve signs of the zodiac, carved in stone in the nine-metre-high reveals of the central window, stand for the rise and fall of human life.[6]
Kunsthalle Erfurt, since 1979
Renovated in 1979, the Haus zum Roten Ochsen opened as the Galerie am Fischmarkt, the Kunsthalle Erfurt since 2000, and it is also the seat of the Erfurter Kunstverein.[3] Behind the Renaissance façade, some 750 square metres hold changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art from Germany and abroad, which makes the Kunsthalle the largest publicly funded venue for temporary exhibitions of modern art in Thuringia. Artistic photography has had a growing place in its programme since the mid-1980s, alongside painting, graphic art, sculpture, video and installations.[10]
Between Marktstraße and Benediktsplatz, 2013
The Fischmarkt is part of Erfurt's pedestrian zone and has its own tram stop, Fischmarkt/Rathaus. The Marktstraße leads off to the west and the Schlösserstraße to the south, and to the east the square passes into the Benediktsplatz, where the Krämerbrücke begins. The square was thoroughly renovated between early 2013 and November 2013.[1]
Questions visitors ask
- Where is the Fischmarkt in Erfurt?
- In the old town, between the Domplatz to the west and the Anger to the southeast. The tram stops at Fischmarkt/Rathaus, and to the east the square passes into the Benediktsplatz, where the Krämerbrücke begins.
- When was Erfurt's Rathaus built?
- Its main parts were built between 1870 and 1875 to plans by August Thiede and Theodor Sommer, on the site where the city's first town hall went up in 1275. The east wing was lengthened in 1904/05, and the south building and the savings bank completed the complex in 1934/35.
- Can I visit the Rathaus, and what is there to see?
- Yes — at weekends without a guide, and on weekdays on the guided tours of Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH. Inside are Peter Janssen's nine paintings of Erfurt's history in the Festsaal (1878–1882) and Eduard Kämpffer's scenes from the legends of the Count of Gleichen, Faust and Tannhäuser and from Luther's life on the staircase and corridors (1891–1895).
- What is the statue on the column?
- The Römer, a Roman warrior armed from head to foot and holding Erfurt's city banner, made by Israel von der Milla and set up on 6 November 1591 in front of the Haus zum Breiten Herd. It has stood opposite the Rathaus since 1886.
- What is in the Haus zum Roten Ochsen?
- The Kunsthalle Erfurt, with changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art on some 750 square metres, and the Erfurter Kunstverein. The house was remodelled in the Renaissance style in 1562 for the woad merchant Jacob Naffzer; look for the red ox with golden horns in the frieze above the ground floor.
- Which building is the Haus zum Breiten Herd?
- The Renaissance house of 1584 at number 13 on the north side, with the five senses carved across its first floor and a Landsknecht on its gable. The neo-Renaissance Gildehaus beside it, built in 1882/83 and 1892/93, took it as its model.
Sources (10)
- Fischmarkt (Erfurt) — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Rathaus Erfurt — Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Haus zum Roten Ochsen — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Haus zum Breiten Herd — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Römer (Erfurt) — Wikipedia, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Geschichte des Rathauses — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Das Erfurter Rathaus — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Festsaal — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Historische Wandgemälde — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
- Kunsthalle Erfurt – Haus zum Roten Ochsen — Stadt Erfurt, retrieved 13 September 2026
Visit Information
Kunsthalle Erfurt: adults €6.00, reduced €4.00; admission free on the first Tuesday of the month.
Rathaus: Saturday and Sunday 9:00–12:00 and 13:00–16:00 without a guide, except while events are held in the building; Monday to Friday only on guided tours by Erfurt Tourismus und Marketing GmbH. Kunsthalle Erfurt: Tuesday to Sunday 11:00–18:00, Thursday 11:00–22:00.
Fischmarkt, 99084 Erfurt
50.9778, 11.0289
In the history of Erfurt
Historic sites
Krämerbrücke, between Benediktsplatz and Wenigemarkt, 99084 Erfurt
To the east the Fischmarkt passes into the Benediktsplatz, where the Krämerbrücke begins.
Around Weimar
20 km West
Erfurt's central square, with the neo-Gothic Rathaus, the Renaissance houses zum Roten Ochsen and zum Breiten Herd, and the Römer on his column.