The Gustav Freytag monument at the back of the Kurpark in Wiesbaden was created by the sculptor Fritz Schaper (1841-1919), a representative of the Berlin school of sculpture, and was unveiled on May 28, 1905.

It shows the writer Gustav Freytag at a mature age, larger than life in white marble, standing upright on a high pedestal made of shell limestone. Freytag is dressed in a suit and coat and holds a book in his left hand. A fountain bowl for a dolphin-headed gargoyle is placed in the middle above the semi-circular steps leading to the pedestal, probably a reference to the esteem in which Gustav Freytag held Wiesbaden's spring waters. The gargoyle was reactivated on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Wiesbaden waterworks in 1995, but is now decommissioned.

Two arched balustrades run to the right and left of the statue; at each end is a marble group consisting of two putti standing on pedestals made of shell limestone. The two putti on the right are holding a scroll and a theater mask - a reference to Freytag's plays, while those on the left are reading a book. Freytag regularly visited Wiesbaden for winter cures from the age of 60 and eventually settled there completely.

The monument was commissioned on the initiative of friends of Gustav Freytag, who were soon able to provide the necessary funds.