Friday Fountain Challenge: December

My final contribution for this month is a real bobby dazzler – The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc in Barcelona. It was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1929 by Carles Buigas.

My daughter and I headed out to see the fountain in action on a Friday night in October. There seemed to be hundreds of people watching, but we managed to squeeze in and get a few photographs. We didn’t hear any music though so maybe we were too early for that combination and just after 9 pm we decided to leave and find a restaurant for dinner before everyone else had the same thought.

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It is not operating every night in the autumn and winter months so check before you  go and be prepared for crowds. However, it truly is magical.

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

As this is a post equivalent to a New Year’s Eve fireworks display, I shall wish all my blogging family a

Happy New Blogging Year

and I wish you all success, happiness, health and wealth and fun throughout 2017. Is it really seventeen years since the Millennium? I crept out of the house before dawn on that morning to photograph a sunrise. Not a very interesting one I’m afraid. But I did capture seven swans a-swimming…

Friday Fountain Challenge: December

Snowshill Manor is a Cotswold manor house packed with extraordinary treasures collected over a life time by Charles Wade

In addition there is a lovely garden with lots of nooks and crannies to explore. And in one courtyard is this delightful huffing and puffing Green Man fountain.

I think he’d look rather splendid in my garden – I have a stone wall and I have the lichens to go with it!

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is a free for all so if you have a fountain to share I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: December

One that failed to get posted during the year is this disturbing fountain from Prague.

This is in the Prague Castle Gardens and is of Hercules wrestling with a lion.

The sculpture of Hercules is made by architect Palliardi in the time of baroque flourish (1787-1797) and is in the garden on the bastion.

I don’t know about you, but I found this sculpture/fountain quite odd.

The courtyard also has some cute cherubs riding on lions so maybe this was the place where the royals kept exotic animals, including lions and tigers? Or is it all to do with Hercules and the twelve labours.

The first of Heracles’ twelve labours, set by King Eurystheus (his cousin) was to slay the Nemean lion. According to one version of the myth, the Nemean lion took women as hostages to its lair in a cave near Nemea, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress.

I suppose in a city where David Černý sculptures abound it probably isn’t weird at all.

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is a free for all so if you have a fountain to share I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: December

I’m back in Switzerland for this first December fountain. The delightful “Le Vieux Carouge”, with its specific old French-Italian architecture, its abundance of fountains, courtyards, shuttered houses and bohemian vibe, doesn’t feel at all like you are in Geneva.

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is a free for all so if you have a fountain to share I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: November

My final November fountain is from Scotland, though it is fairly typical of anywhere in the British Isles – a memorial fountain.

The heart of the oldest part of Dunkeld is ‘The Cross’, where the High Street broadens out to flow either side of a central area that was once home to the Mercat (or market) Cross.

The Atholl Memorial fountain was erected on the site of the market cross. It was funded by public subscription and built in 1866 to the memory of George Augustus Frederick John 6th Duke of Atholl. The duke had introduced a piped water supply to Dunkeld prior to which all water had to be drawn from the Tay, which explains all the wynds leading to the river.

Water Wynd

The fountain was designed by a Perth based architect C S Robertson with sculptures by John Rhind. Details in the carvings include birds and animals, gargoyles, family crests and masonic symbols – the 6th duke was Grand Master Mason of Scotland from 1843 until his death in 1864.

The result was highly decorative and also functional. The water that flows from the fountain in summer today is not drinkable, but when first built it could serve both passing humans and horses.

Fountain and street

South side detail

Centre of the fountain

The ownership of the fountain was passed to the National Trust for Scotland in 1991 and restoration of the fountain including restoring the flow of water was carried out with donations from several organisations and people. The water is turned off in the winter to avoid freezing.

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is the time to feature fountains from your own country. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: November

NT Barrington Court, Somerset – internal courtyard water feature

One water feature that seems to recur in our gardens, especially those managed by the National Trust, is a the classic European sculpture of a naked boy / cupid  with a dolphin / fish / sea serpent of some description or even in the case below, a swan. Often holding. sitting on, wrestling or otherwise engaged.

NT Barrington Court – boy and swan

Barrington Court

NT Batemans, East Sussex

NT Hidcote, Gloucestershire

Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall – Italian garden

Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall – Italian garden

NT Barrington Court – boy and swan

Another statue of Verrochio’s Winged Cherub Boy with Dolphin can be seen in Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver, Canada.

NT Hidcote Bathing Pool

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is the time to feature fountains from your own country. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: November

Another fountain in a public garden, this time the Dingle in Shrewsbury. Formerly a stone quarry the Dingle is the result one of its gardeners – Percy Thrower – who was very famous in England for appearing in the TV programme ‘Blue Peter’ and who was the superintendent of Shrewsbury’s parks for 28 years.

There are seasonal floral displays (visit in spring for the azaleas) and water features including the central cast-iron Coalbrookdale fountain which dates from 1889. The cast-iron is decorated with lily leaves, scallop shells and dolphins. The ceramic figure is white, unglazed (similar to Parian ware) and shows a girl seated on a rock outcrop cushioned with a sheaf of corn. She is pouring from an urn into a cup, and has a basket by her left foot.

Presented by the Independent Order of ODD Fellows, Shrewsbury District 1889

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is the time to feature fountains from your own country. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: November

This unique and delightful water feature was made by Michael Johnson at The Copper Works, Newlyn and is located near the Sensory Garden in Penlee Park, Penzance.

I know, from a distance it doesn’t really look much does it? But come a little closer…

and admire those copper leaves

and the fluid shape of the basin from which the water gently flows…

and how beautifully it sits in its surroundings when viewed from the bench.

I wonder how much one would cost? I have just the spot for it.

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month is the time to feature fountains from your own country. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: October

The Concorde Fountain – Paris

The Fontaines de la Concorde are two monumental fountains located in the Place de la Concorde in the centre of Paris. They were designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, and completed in 1840 during the reign of King Louis-Philippe. The south fountain commemorates the maritime commerce and industry of France, and the north fountain commemorates navigation and commerce on the rivers of France.

Twelve different sculptors worked on the statuary of the fountains, closely supervised by Hittorff, who made sure that the entire ensemble would be harmonious and balanced. A prominent feature of the design of both fountains was a mushroom-shaped cap above the central vasque. Water was to jet from the top of the cap and then cascade downward into a circular vasque, then down into a large circular basin below. The major figures of the fountains were made of cast iron, florentined, or painted with bronze and gold paint. The smaller figures of the tritons and nereids were made of bronze. In 1862–63, the fountains were restored, and the bronze and gold paint was replaced with a bronze coating. (Wikipedia)

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month she is looking for stately or ornate fountains. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: October

A quick post from Barcelona with a stately fountain for Poli 🙂

The Cascades are in Parc Ciutadella close to the centre of Barcelona and also home to the zoo. Apologies for the quality of these images but the light was fading and I haven’t time to edit them as there are things to do and things to see and tapas to eat…

If you’d like to join in with the fountain challenge then please pop over to Polianthus for the rules

This month she is looking for stately or ornate fountains. I’m sure she would love to see you.