The Beer Fountain marks the lower end of Schildergasse, where the street broadens to form a little square. The stone seats placed around the fountain are a convenient place to meet, or good for simply sitting down to give your feet a rest. Meanwhile you can watch other shopoholics dash in and out of Kaufhof, Gap or H & M. This is also a place where you can nearly always catch a street performer. The minimalist, rather phallic stone column was designed by art students and erected in 1972. A Cologne brewery sponsored the presentation, when beer gushed from the top of the stone. Today it is merely ordinary water that flows down the column.