Hauszeichenstele

The stele stands in the Magdeburg Altstadt, south of the point where Himmelreichstraße meets Krügerbrücke.

The stele is built of clinker brick with a rectangular ground plan and dates from 1990. The ceramic house signs, made by the sculptor Wolfgang Roßdeutscher, are set on all four sides. The eleven signs refer to the practice, maintained in Magdeburg over centuries, of marking houses and their names.

Unlike the house signs on the building at Alter Markt 12, 13, those on the stele are neither original historic signs nor replicas of originals. They are newly created works of art. The house names they show nevertheless go back to designations that once existed: names of houses that originally stood in the vicinity of the stele served as inspiration for the new designs, some of which are marked by coarse humour.