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Gabelmann is the most famous fountain in the Bavarian town of Bamberg. It is also the town's most popular meeting point, which is why local historian, tour guide and writer Wolfgang Wußmann called his collection of stories about the Bamberg of old "Treff' mer uns am Gab'lmann" (Let's meet at the fork man).
Here is the story of the fork man in short:
A fountain has been at this location since 1337. A new fountain was initiated in the early 16th century by Bamberg artist, goldsmith and city councilman Ludwig Krug. In his will, Krug left 800 Gulden to the city of Bamberg to erect a fountain. However, Krug had moved to nearby Nuremberg, where he died in 1532. The city of Nuremberg refused to hand over the money to the rivaling neighbor. Eventually, the money was smuggled out of Nuremberg, hidden in a bag of salt.
In 1566, architect Jorg Walbergk finished a fountain with a statue of St. Georg. In 1697, architect Caspar Metzner was entrusted with a total do-over of the fountain. He erected a statue of the Roman god Neptune.
Because of his trident, the statue and the fountain were soon only known as the Gabelmann or Gab'lmann (German for fork man) or the Goblmoo, which is the same in the local Franconian accent.
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