Thursday
Apr022009
Interest on your Interest
Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 5:01PM Another fountain by Alexander Zschokke, this one commemorates Johann Rudolf Wettstein, who is credited with negotiating the recognition of Switzerland’s independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1648. 
It was installed in 1955, although allegedly it was planned for the 500th anniversary in 1892 of the union of Grossbasel (on the south-west side of the river) and Kleinbasel (on the other). The story goes that fund-raising yielded less than 10% of the needed capital, so it took a further 62 years for enough compound interest to accumulate.