The bronze statue of the pilgrim on the St. James Way has been donated to the town by Anton Schlembach, at the time bishop of Speyer, on the occasion of Speyer's 2000 year anniversary in 1990. It is reminding of the medieval pilgrimages and in result that Europe was growing together.
This pilgrim had then a very uneventful existence, due to the many attractions of the town it did not get too much attention. This was changed rather drastically when Hape Kerkeling, a famous TV entertainer in Germany, published a book about his travel on the Camino in 2005. Since that time this statue is permanently surrounded by tourists photographing each other, although now this is slowly decreasing again.