Today on Monday Mysteries, thanks to the eagle eye of our 10-year-old visitor, we uncover the location of the hidden faces on the Neptune fountain in Tübingen.

The Marktplatz, the central medieval market square in Tübingen, is the home of a Neptune fountain, i.e. a fountain with Neptune on top.  When I take photos of the fountain, I’m usually taking photos of the Neptune figure himself, like the first one in the gallery below. I also sometimes take photos of the full fountain, like this second one in the gallery below,  which shows the fountain’s winter cover, used to protect the basin when the water is turned off in winter.

Yesterday, while showing some visiting relatives the town, we checked out the Neptune Fountain, where the cover is now off and the water turned on.  Our 10-year-old-guest, N—, has an interest in Poseidon/Neptune thanks to a school project. She carefully scoped out all sides of that fountain and spied something I had never notice before: the grill work on the water spigot part, below Neptune’s statue, has faces built-in.

Well spotted, N—!

I’ve included a couple of examples in the gallery. Of course, this does open up a new mystery: what are the faces and why are they there? I believe they represent some symbols of peace, and/or people connected to Tübingen politics after WWII, or something like that. That’s a mystery for another day. So today, just enjoy this peek at the here-to-fore unseen (by me) faces of the Neptune fountain.