The backyard of the E.T.A. Hoffmann house – a little enchanted garden-realm with references to the life and works of E.T.A. Hoffmann

(Some passages from texts can be read on tablets there)

• The iron wrought gate, executed in a romantic style, quotes the sneaky snake (1) that appears to the student Anselmus in the Golden Pot on the bank of the river Elbe under an elder bush (3).
• Under an arch entwined with roses stands a pottery statue (2) with two faces as a „tribute to E.T.A. Hoffmann“
• Another arch entwined with roses (5) and two neighboring wild roses bushes allude to The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr.
• Two apple trees, with their fruit ripening in the late summer, are trailing on the espalier on the right (11) and establish the connection to the “Apfelweibla” (apple seller) who is a literary figure in The Golden Pot.
• A second pottery statue (4) resembles the literary figure “Klein Zaches” from the fairy tale Little Zaches, called Zinnober.
• The sandstone path which opens up the garden winds through an arcade arched by hornbeams and ends in a round arbor(7); the mosaic floor panel shows a chalice (8) – Hoffmann’s symbol of the enjoyment of wine in his diary.
• Two grapevines (12) indicate Hoffmann’s preference and stimulant.
• At the end of the garden, at a clearing, between elder, bamboo and pivet a little pond alludes to (10) the Urbar-source in Princess Brambilla.
• The statue at the pond is Undine of the opera by Fouqués text.