Washingwomen at the Warm Pader

The so-called Washingwomen-Monument commemorates parts of the city’s history that are closely linked to life at the river. At the »Warm Pader«, also known as the »Wäschepader«, people from Paderborn washed and bleached their laundry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But this place of work was not only of practical importance, it was also a social meeting place where, predominantly women, exchanged news and
cultivated social life.

The sculpture group depicts the washingwomen in various everyday scenes: on a footbridge, they are washing their clothes, on a staircase, some women are engaged in conversation, and another woman is spreading her laundry on the grass to bleach it. This lifelike representation conveys the diversity of their work and their connection to nature. The everyday scene is supplemented by a humorous element: a young boy tries to prevent his geese from walking over the laundry that has been laid out to dry. The boy and the geese are equipped with joints in the typical manner of Stirnberg’s sculptures and can be moved.