Munich - Fish Fountain

(Local Name: Fischbrunnen) At the northeast corner of Marienplatz square is the Fischbrunnen (Fish Fountain), recently erected here, with bronze figures from an earlier fountain of 1865. Until 1901 this was the scene, each year on Shrove Tuesday, of a light-hearted event known as the Metzgersprung (Butchers' Leap). Apprentice butchers, released with much ceremony from their indentures, were then required, wearing sheepskins, to jump into the fountain basin from where they threw nuts into the crowd and splashed the small boys who ran to get them.