Take a Lucky Flight to Nuremberg and Turn the Golden Ring for Good Luck / 🇩🇪 Germany

Look beyond the gilt figures of Nuremberg’s fountain and down towards the dark iron grille. A small golden ring set into the fence is the object visitors turn when they make a wish. The contrast makes it easy to recognise once you know where to look. Give your visit a purpose by choosing something you genuinely hope to see happen. The wish can be as ordinary as a good beginning after a move or as personal as the courage to make a change. At the market square, the moment belongs to the person whose hand is on the ring.

1. Open the photograph and start with the Gothic spire. Follow the bright figures down to the iron fence. Imagine walking across the Hauptmarkt and stopping beside that railing.
2. Picture the smooth, gold-coloured loop resting in the dark metalwork. Take a breath and choose one wish. Try putting it into one short sentence so you know what you are asking for.
3. In your imagination, reach for the ring and turn it. Hold the wish in your mind as you look again at the square. Stamp your passport on this device when you have finished.
4. When you visit Nuremberg in person, go to the Hauptmarkt and look for the gold-coloured ring in the grille around the fountain. Make the wish with the ring itself.

The fountain was first built near the end of the fourteenth century, and the one you see on the Hauptmarkt today is a later replica. Its slender stone tower looks more like the top of a Gothic building than an ordinary basin. The figures are arranged in levels, from the liberal arts to rulers and religious figures. The iron enclosure gives the fountain a second point of focus at the height of a visitor’s hands. The golden ring seems to have been fitted without a visible seam, a detail that adds to its appeal. While the figures tell a story high above the square, the ring lets someone passing through add a wish of their own.