The church fountain at St. Kilian's Church is a reminder of the spring that gave Heilbronn its name. Whether the water of the "Bronn" had been holy, healing or merely refreshing (heili) can no longer be clarified. Since 1541, the spring water flowed from seven pipes into a fountain measuring 18.9 by 6 meters, which was located in the middle of the Kirchbrunnenstraße. From 1835, the fountain visibly dried up and in 1868 it was leveled as a "traffic obstruction". This meant that one of Heilbronn's distinctive landmarks was missing, so in 1904 a new, smaller fountain was built on the south side of St. Kilian's Church, from whose seven pipes refreshing water has been flowing ever since. Every month, the Haus der Stadtgeschichte presents an unusual Heilbronn "focal point" that tells something about the city's history. Further insights can be found in the exhibition "Heilbronn historically!" in the Otto Rettenmaier Haus/Haus der Stadtgeschichte and online at www.stadtarchiv-heilbronn.de.
