The Brass Monkey of Heidelberg. The inscription on the Monkey says

This inscription on the monkey liberally means “as you look at me, world (or traveler), don’t laugh to quickly at me because if you were to look at humanity, or even into a mirror, you just might see something as funny as me.”

They say if rub the coin it brings you good luck. But why is the coin there?

Clues to the search for the Brass Monkey

 

The Heidelberg Castle

The Poem On The cask

Being the first calvinistic pastor of the parochy of the wine producing community of Dittelsheim Anton Praetorius visited nearby Heidelberg, the centre of Calvin´s theology in Germany.

Impressed by the huge wine barrel in the Heidelberg castle he wrote a poem in 1595 praising the barrel as an apparent proof for the superiority of the calvinistic belief: Vas Heidelbergense (Poem on the 1. Great Wine Barrel in the Castle of Heidelberg).

Two years later Anton Praetorius had to witness the torture of 4 women accused of witchcraft in the town of Birstein. He was so appalled that he wrote the book "Gründlicher Bericht über Zauberey und Zauberer" (Thorough Report about Witchcraft and Witches) to protest against the use of the torture and the prosecution of witches.