Mercury fountain

A mercury fountain is a fountain constructed for use with liquid metallic mercury ("quicksilver") rather than water.

Mercury fountains existed in some castles in Islamic Spain; the most famous one was located at the Kasr-al-Kholaifa in Córdoba.^{[citation needed]}

Calder's Mercury Fountain

The most well-known modern example is a sculpture designed by the American artist Alexander Calder, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. The artwork is a memorial to the siege of Almadén by General Franco's troops; at the time, the region supplied 60 percent of the world's mercury.^[1]

The fountain was a sculptural counterpart to Guernica, Pablo Picasso's protest against Spanish Civil War atrocities. Calder's Mercury Fountain is now at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, displayed behind glass to control toxic mercury vapors.^[1]

Sculptures

v t e 1937 Paris International Exposition of Arts and Techniques Applied to Modern Life
Site Champ de Mars, Trocadéro, esplanade des Invalides and banks of the Seine. Paris
Pavilions	Grand Palais Palais de Chaillot Palace of the Museums of Modern Art Pavilion of Spain Guernica Mercury fountain The Reaper Pavilion of the USSR Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
Attractions	Eiffel Tower Naissance d'une cité Passerelle Debilly Pont Alexandre III
Urban development	Métro Line 8 Line 10 Line 14
Others	Fête des belles eaux Phare du Monde

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This page was last edited on 2 May 2024, at 23:51