Eltville is a small picturesque town on the banks of the Rhine, a short distance west of Hesse’s capital Wiesbaden.
Its 14th century castle overlooking the river was the residence of the archbishops and electors of Mainz for around 150 years.
I was intrigued by these three statues of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, which were sitting by a doorway in the castle.
The colours are, of course, those of the German flag, but I did not have the slightest idea what the sculptures were actually about. An internet search revealed that they had been part of an art installation commemorating the 550th anniversary of Gutenberg’s death in 2018. 165 of the statues had been placed in the castle’s rose garden and, apparently, they could be purchased when the exhibition ended. Perhaps the three in the picture were the last ones left.
The castle’s connection with Gutenberg is pointed out by this plaque on one of its walls: in 1465 the inventor received a special honour here from Adolph II of Nassau, the then Archbishop of Mainz.
We visited Eltville in July 2022. I took the next three photos on a stroll though the town, following a route which a leaflet from the tourist information bureau had suggested. Many of the buildings in the centre are of the traditional half-timbered type.
The final shot shows an attractive, very unusual fountain at the old market square—the ‘Weinbrunnen’ (wine fountain), celebrating the long-standing and deep-rooted association of the area with viniculture.
The English-language .pdf version of the leaflet we had for our walk provides further details of what there is to see.
