The snails of the Cittaslow fountain and the thoughts of the artist couple Gernot and Barbara Rumpf: The snails stand for balance, for patience and steadfastness, for determination - but also for lifetime, for outside and inside - and last but not least they stand for marvelling at the wonders of nature and life. The artists wanted to transfer this metaphor to the fountain and thus create a place of tranquillity beyond the "rush hour" of life. A place where you can find a spot in the sun or in the shade, a "liveable" place, just as the CITTASLOW idea is based on. Inspired by the multitude of snail species and shapes, a large Roman snail, a land snail and a land lung snail are presented on the right side of the fountain. On the left side is a large pointed-horn snail, which in principle is supposed to represent a water or sea snail. There are other snail shells of various origins to discover, including a "snail nuptial", as well as a specimen of an ammonite, an extinct sub-lineage of the mollusc classes. In reality, most snails are hermaphrodites, i.e. bisexual. The fact that the two specimens sitting on the wall here are clearly male and female should pass for "artistic licence". The signature of the artist couple Rumpf, to include a small mouse in all their works, was applied twice to this fountain. One presents itself with a snail shell on its back and stands for Maikammer, another mouse adorns a shell, which underlines the connection of Maikammer's partner community Pellworm at the North Sea. Finally, we are happy to quote a sentence that Prof. Gernot Rumpf said during his speech at the opening of the fountain "Places are there for people and fountains should invite people to linger and play, especially for children, but also for adults". "Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis" - Times change and we change in them.
