Gefion (fountain)

Brief Information

At the center of the Gefion Fountain is not a calm allegory, but a moment of strenuous labor: the fertility goddess drives four bulls which, in the legend, plow the land so deeply that the future Zealand breaks away from Sweden. As a result, the composition reads not as an ordinary waterside ornament, but as a scene of the origin of the island on which Copenhagen stands.

The fountain is located near the harbor, in Langelinie Park not far from the Kastellet citadel. It was given to the city by the Carlsberg Foundation for the brewery’s 50th anniversary. At first, the fountain was intended to be placed in front of the City Hall on the main square, but the present location was chosen instead. This change matters: by the harbor, the legend of land, water, and a separated island sounds much more literal than it would on a city square.

What to Notice First

You can compare three parts of the composition: the figure of Gefion, the team of four bulls, and the water basin with its pedestal. Gefion explains the mythical source of the subject, the bulls show its action, and the water beneath them recalls that the legend speaks not merely of plowing, but of the appearance of an island and a lake where the torn-away land had been. According to tradition, this lake was identified as Vänern, whose shape resembles Zealand.

It is worth noting that the sculptural group was created earlier than the completed basin and pedestal: the figures appeared in 1897–1899, while the base and bowl were finished in 1908. The fountain is arranged as a combination of a mythological scene and an engineered water form. A later restoration also adds another layer to its reading: after work begun in 1999, the fountain was not restarted until September 2004.