The creatively coloured fire hydrants of Liechtenstein

The ways that fire hydrants differ between Liechtenstein municipalities is such a specific subject, it’s probably better left to the neurotic or weirdly obsessed.

And that’s why I’m here!

Let’s start off with Vaduz, the country’s capital. Fire hydrants here are silver with a blue top. They also often depict the Vaduz coat of arms:

In the Vaduz Rathausplatz, or City Hall Square, the absolute heart of the country

A slightly worse looking one on Äulestrasse (Äule Street), which abuts the City Hall Square

One missing its coat of arms, found on Landstrasse (Country Street), up the road from Äule Street

But although Vaduz is the capital, it isn’t Liechtenstein’s biggest city. That distinction goes to Schaan, which is just a bit more north. While Vaduz has a paltry population of 5,400, Schaan boasts an impressive 6,000. Here you’ll instead see hydrants with red tops:

On Benderer Straße in northern Schaan. The word Straße is the Standard German word for street, and Strasse is a variant in some Alemannic German dialects, which are spoken in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Except, of course, for this entirely unique and very fancy hydrant outside of Schaan’s St. Laurentius Parish Church:

On the corner of Kirchstrasse and Feldkircher Strasse

Gamprin gives us this blue-bodied red-topped type:

Along Eschner Strasse, just after crossing the border with Switzerland, near the roundabout with the much shorter road Im Schwibboga

And in a pleasing symmetry, the neighboring municipality of Eschen gives us the opposite:

Also spotted in Gamprin, very close to the border with Schellenberg, is this yellow one:

On Oberbühl (Overhill), several meters before the road becomes Eschner Rütte as it enters Schellenberg

And in Ruggell we find the most boring—all silver:

On Fuhraweg, which connects Schellenbergstrasse with Noflerstrasse

Much to my disgrace, I did not manage to visit all of Liechtenstein’s municipalities. Thus, there are almost surely additional hydrant variants out there, just waiting to be discovered in their native habitats and scientifically catalogued.