A regal restoration for the `king of beers'

Gambrinus awaits new posting at Historical Society

For the moment, this king is lying down on the job.

Resting comfortably sidewise on the lower section of a wooden packing crate that has been its home for 15 years, is the statue of King Gambrinus, "the patron saint of brewers."

The statue is nearing the end of a careful, five-month, $20,000 restoration in a back-room workshop of the Maryland Historical Society.

King Gambrinus will eventually be the focal point of the new glass-lined "Link," connecting the society's existing building to its new gallery, which is now under construction and scheduled to open in November.

From its new home, the gilded zinc statue, which stands 10 1/2 feet tall and weighs more than 1,000 pounds, will not only greet visitors to the historical society but will be visible to pedestrians and motorists along Park Avenue and Howard Street.

Gambrinus, who came to symbolize the brewing industry, has his roots in the imagination of a 15th-century Italian humanist, who created 10 fictional German kings. One of those kings is supposed to have learned brewing from the ancient Egyptian gods of Osiris and Isis, and introduced the skills to Europe.

"He brought these secret skills to Europe and taught others before disappearing into a thicket of fables and fairy tales," wrote Moira F. Harris in the fall 2000 issue of The Breweriana Collector.

In a monograph produced for the historical society, Jeannine A. Disviscour, curator of the society's decorative-arts collection, writes, "The image of a king standing alongside a barrel of beer raising a toast had long been associated with beer brewing. Jan Primus, a 13th-century Belgian Duke and President of the Brussels Guild of Brewers, is thought to have inspired the image. In the late 1800s, the now legendary figure of King Gambrinus was common decoration on beer steins, parade floats, and a popular sculpture."

George Ehret, a New York City brewer, suggested in his 1891 book, Twenty-Five Years of Brewing, an alternative view on the origin of Gambrinus.

"While some attribute the invention of hopped-malt beer to Jan Primus (John 1), a scion of the stock of Burgundy princes, who lived about the year 1251, others ascribe it to Jean Sans Peur (1371-1419), otherwise known as Ganbrivius. A corruption of either name may plausibly be shown to have resulted in the present name of the King of Beer, viz., Gambrinus, who we are accustomed to see represented in the habit of a knight of the middle-ages with the occasional addition of a crown," he wrote.

"Popular imagination, it seems, attached such great importance to beer, that in according the honor of its invention, it could not be satisfied with anything less than a king," he added.

While scholars and beer devotees debate the origins of Gambrinus, one thing is certain, the historical society's statue, a gift from the Morton A. Lapides family, is the earliest surviving example of such a sculpture in the United States. It is also one of five known likenesses in this country.

For years, King Gambrinus stood in a niche above a door of the old J.F. Wiessner Brewery in the 1700 block of N. Gay St., then Belle Air Avenue, encouraging passers-by to enjoy a cool, foaming mug of beer.

Founded in 1863 by Wiessner, a Bavarian immigrant who arrived in Baltimore in 1853, the brewery and its pagoda-like tower have been a city landmark since 1887. (The building received additions through 1887.)

It was thought that the King Gambrinus statue purchased by the J.F. Wiessner Brewery in 1879 was made in Switzerland by S.A. Stod.

While doing restoration work on the statue, Disviscour and her colleagues made a happy discovery: The statue was made by another Swiss, Joseph A. Stoll of Brooklyn, N.Y.

"It's signed `J.A. Stoll/Swiss/1879.' It really is an American piece," she said.

After Wiessner's death in 1897, the brewery continued to be operated by his sons until 1928, when it was sold to Daniel FitzSimons. During Prohibition (1919-1933), the brewery made "near beer." After Prohibition's repeal, the American Brewery began producing beer at the site and Gambrinus was moved across the street to a beer garden. He later was moved to the front of the brew house.

In 1967, Allegheny Beverage purchased the brewery, which continued operating until the last barrel of suds rolled out of the keg house in 1973.

King Gambrinus traveled to Washington in 1976 to be part of the Smithsonian Institution's 1876 Centennial exhibition.

The sculpture is made of carefully designed and soldered zinc sheets. Because it traveled quite a bit during its 124 years, it is only natural that its solder joints and welds opened up. They were painstakingly and successfully repaired during the present conservation.

King Gambrinus is painted in vibrant colors that one might find on a vintage seaside carousel.