Imperia, Courtesan of the Council of Constance

This statue by Peter Lenk was erected in 1993. With its height of 9 meters and its weight of 18 tons this lady is rather impressive. The City of Constance refused to have the statue erected on their grounds. But the German Railway had it erected on top of a level station that is used to record the level of the Lake Constance. The German Railway Company owns the German fleet of line boats on Lake Constance and it also owns the harbour of Constance, where the level station is located.

During the Council of Constance (1414-1418) the city was crowded by bishops, clergies and courtesans. Imperia is one of those courtesans. In her hands she holds two little figures, one wearing the papal tiara, the other one wearing the imperial crown – one of the popes (Giovanni XXIII.) and King Sigismund, who later became emperor, attended the council too.

About those wrinkled figures Peter Lenk says: "... Those figures held by Imperia are not the pope and not the emperor, but rather jesters who have acquired the insignia of worldly and spiritual power. I leave it to the historical education of the spectator to decide to what extent the real pope and the real emperor were jesters too…”

Europe / Germany

Lat: 47° 39' 38.73" N
Long: 9° 10' 51.61" E

Elevation: 397m

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