Fountain at Marienplatz

A hearty “Grüß Gott” and a broken neck and leg by the executioner! My name is Oliver Pötzsch, and what you can hear in the background is the so-called poor sinner's bell that rings at every execution. No fear! It's not your last hour. The bell is only intended to take you back to the time of my novels, when things were, well, a little rougher in Schongau. Also here on the Schongauer Marienplatz, the center of the city. My ancestors served as executioners in Schongau for over three hundred years. You know one of them, the executioner Jakob Kuisl, who lived here in the 17th century, from my books. During this tour you will learn more about him, but also about his cheeky daughter Magdalena, the coffee-addicted doctor and son-in-law Simon and about many other characters from my novels. And of course something about that time and about Schongau!

In the Middle Ages, the town was a few kilometers to the north-west. In the 13th century they were rebuilt here on the mountain, more protected and closer to the Lech, one of the main traffic routes at the time. The fountain you see in front of you dates from the 20th century, but as early as 1675, i.e. at the time of Jakob Kuisl, there was a city fountain with a Marian column. To the south you can see the large Ballenhaus, to the north is the so-called Münzstrasse, the main street of the old town where the markets were held back then.

Can you hear the geese cackling, the market women haggling, the grunting of the pigs...? Do you see the wagon with wine barrels that is on its way to the Lech Gate? Just step aside before you get run over! And that back there, the young woman with the headscarf...isn't that the hangman's daughter Magdalena? In fact, it is! In the first volume of the series, she just bought sweets here at the market, which she is now distributing to the children. Do you remember? Now she goes on! And a stranger with a bony hand follows her...

We should follow her as well, because Magdalena will take us to many other exciting places in the city. Are you ready? Then dodge the beggars who swarm outside the church on market day, don't step in the horse manure and the stinking filth in the alleyways, and come with me. And always keep your hands off the stock market! Executioner Kuisl just cut off the fingers of the last pickpocket last year.