But what hardly anyone knows: This striking keystone has a secret twin - hidden and silent, overlooked by most. Only those who go to the Historical Museum, squeeze themselves into the narrow spindle of the stairwell and look upwards will find the second ram's head. Hidden in the chancellery wing, it sits silent and grim at the end of the narrow, almost 500-year-old spiral staircase. It was placed here by the sculptor Pankraz Wagner, the same artist who also created the magnificent Renaissance portal - the Beautiful Gate.
A ram's head mask, with its mouth wide open, stands out as a keystone at the highest point of the archway of the Beautiful Gate, the magnificent portal of the Old Court in Bamberg. Every visitor who passes through the Beautiful Gate must withstand its intense gaze.
Der versteckte Zwilling
Nur, wer in das Historische Museum geht, sich in die enge Spindel des Treppenauges quetscht, und den Blick nach oben richtet, findet den zweiten Widderkopf. Verborgen im Kanzleitrakt sitzt er still und finster am Ende der engen, fast 500 Jahre alten Wendeltreppe. Hier hat ihn Bildhauer Pankraz Wagner hingesetzt, eben jener Künstler, der auch das prächtige Renaissanceportal – die Schöne Pforte – erschaffen hat.
