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: September

Returning to Prague, this has to be one of the funniest fountains ever seen. The peeing fountain can be found in front of the Franz Kafka museum.

Called Proudy, the peeing statues made of bronze was finished in 2004 by the famous (and oftentimes controversial) artist David Černý, the same one who made the crawling babies.

There is more to these men than simply looking like they’re peeing in a pool shaped like the country. Not only do they move realistically with an electric mechanism driven by a couple microprocessors, but they are actually writing out quotes from famous Prague residents with the streams of water.

Affectionately titled, “Piss”, it features two gyrating, mechanical men urinating on a map of the Czech Republic. Text a personal message to the number next to the exhibit and these chaps will happily waggle their bronze penises around to spell it out for you.

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 fun fountains. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: August

This beautiful bronze Venus fountain is in the Wallenstein Garden in Prague. Well worth a visit if you are ever in the city.  The geometric early-Baroque garden by the Wallenstein Palace was built in Italian style in 1620s.

The important Dutch sculptor Adriaen de Vries made a series of sculptures for the Wallenstein Garden in 1626. The sculptures represent figures from Greek mythology and they are valuable Mannerist works of art. These sculptures were took away as a war booty by the Swedish army in 1648 and they can still be seen in the garden of Drootningholm castle in Sweden. You can see replicas of these sculptures in the Wallenstein Garden.

The only sculpture given back to Prague is Venus with Amor and a dolphin by Benedikt Wurzelbauer from 1599. It is placed in the Prague Castle Gallery and there is a replica in the Wallenstein Garden. You can see it at the bronze fountain in front of the sala terrena.

For the life of me I can’t understand why I didn’t take a photo from the front, but I didn’t. I do have other photos of the garden though, so maybe I should write a post about it.

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 artistic fountains. I’m sure she would love to see you.

Friday Fountain Challenge: July

Stone fountains can be found in Prague too.

Kohl Fountain in the Second Courtyard of Prague Castle
Also called Lion Fountain due to its sculpted decoration. Originating from 1686, it is one of the oldest in Prague. The sandstone fountain used to be a substantial part of Prague Castle’s water system. It was one of the largest castle water reservoirs, used, among other purposes, to extinguish fires. The basin has a quatrefoil ground plan. Next to it is a well with an iron cage.  Source: Prague Fountains

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 stone fountains. I’m sure she would love to see you.