Tours · Hamburg · statue

Zitronenjette

Hamburg's smallest and most beloved monument: the bronze statue of Henriette Müller, the tiny 19th-century lemon seller whose cry of "Zitroon! Zitroon!" once echoed through these streets.

About this place

Henriette Johanne Marie Müller, born in 1841 and barely 1.32 metres tall, walked Hamburg's streets for decades selling lemons from her basket, from the sailors' taverns of the harbour to the lanes of the old town. Mocked in life and plied with schnapps in the pubs, she spent her final years in an institution and died in 1916 — yet the city never forgot her. Songs and stage plays kept her memory alive, and in 1986 sculptor Hansjörg Wagner cast her in bronze near the Michel, where passers-by rub her lemons for luck.

Key facts

1.32 m — Henriette Müller's height — every Hamburger knew the tiny lemon seller
1916 year — Jette died after two decades in the Friedrichsberg institution
1986 year — Hansjörg Wagner's bronze statue was unveiled near the Michel

📍 Teilfeld, 20459, Hamburg

Hear it on a guided audio walk

Hamburg Highlights: Bismarck to the Speicherstadt From the granite giant above the Elbe to the red-brick canals of the Speicherstadt.