Great art is always inspiring.
Still, art comes in a wide variety of forms. Though we often think about it as fine painting or drawing, there are also subtler forms that we don’t often think about. When we walk through a downtown area and admire the shapes and textures of the buildings, that too is art.
Among the most beautiful pieces of architecture are public fountains.
Still, not everyone can travel around the world to see fountains.
Fortunately, we’ve created a list of 15 incredible fountains—both real and hypothetical—which will take your breath away.
1. Julie Penrose Fountain
Located in Fountain Springs, Colorado, this fountain is fairly simple on the surface but has some impressive details. It stands about four stories tall and weighs a whopping 24 tons! The fountain is designed to represent the relationship between the Earth and the atmosphere, specifically how water moved between both spheres.
2. Divers Fountain
This one is relatively iconic though it’s a much farther trip than most. The Divers Fountain is located in the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This one is also four stories tall and is decorated with diving bodies made out of fiberglass.
3. Metalmorphosis Mirror Fountain
The Metalmorphosis Mirror Fountain is one of the more distinct fountains on our list. The sculpture is located in Charlotte, North Carolina and was designed by Czech sculptor David Cerny. What makes this one special is that it is cut into separate layers which rotate a full 360 degrees throughout the day! It even has its own live webcam.
4. Water Boat Fountain
Another of the more creative fountains on the list, the Water Boat Fountain (or Fuente del Barco de Agua, in Spanish) is located in Playa de la Malvarrosa in Valencia, Spain. This fountain is notable for its simplicity and elegance—though it is only composed of a few curved metal rods, the water spraying from each of them creates the illusion of a sailboat!
5. Floating Faucet Fountain
Some of the coolest designs listed here are able to fool our eyes. This is another one located in Spain, this time at Aqualand in Puerto de Santa Maria. Can you figure out the illusion here? Give up? The way this works is that there is a metal pole in the middle of the water holding up the floating faucet. Still, the flow of water hides it from sight. Pretty cool, huh?
6. Dubai Fountains
Ironic as it is that Dubai is a desert, it does have some of the world’s most incredible fountains. This one is located in front of the Burj Khalifa and cost over $218 million to make and has jets which can shoot water up to 500 feet in the air. As an added bonus, it also has 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors for choreographed light and water routines.
7. Charybdis Vortex Fountain
Unlike most fountains we tend to think of, the Charybdis Vortex Fountain is an inverted design which contains all the water and movement within itself. The fountain was designed by William Pye in Sunderland, England and creates the illusion of being a freestanding body of water with a vortex in the middle.
8. Fountain of Nations
This fountain is owned by Disney and can be found in their Epcot Center in Walt Disney World, located in Orlando, Florida. The fountain is designed to represent unity among nations. When it opened, the park invited representatives from countries all around the world to bring a bucket of water from their country to add to the fountain.
9. Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain
Banpo Bridge is a fully functional, girder bridge in Seoul, South Korea which spans the Han River. What makes it special, however, is that both sides of the bridge are equipped with water pumps which shoot our nearly 200 tons of water a minute. For extra beauty, the bridge is also equipped with LED lights which illuminate the streams.
10. Bellagio Fountains
Perhaps one of the most recognizable items on the list, the Bellagio Fountains have been a fixture of the Las Vegas strip since they opened in 1998. The fountains themselves are absolutely enormous, spanning 8.5 acres and containing 22 million gallons of water. The light and water show is also sure to take your breath away.
11. Waterfall Graphic Print
Though not as commonly seen, this Osaka, Japan fountain is particularly graceful and interesting. Instead of having a constant flow of water, the fountain has a row of water sprinklers on top which drop water in synchronized order to create patterns. These include the time of day, images of flowers, directions in the train station and more! This one is best experienced with a video:
12. Stravinsky Fountain
This Parisian fountain was designed to honor the famous Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. Completed in 1983, the fountain has a shallow pool which takes up 6,200 square feet and is decorated with 16 colorful sculptures, each representing one of Stravinsky’s pieces.
13. Trevi Fountain
Perhaps one of the most iconic of the fountains on this list, the Trevi Fountain is an enormous baroque fountain built in 1762. Though the actual water features are modest, the sweeping stone faces are incredible. Even more impressive is that nearly 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain for good luck every day—that’s about $1.5 million a year!
14. King Fahd’s Fountain
On some level, it makes sense that world’s tallest fountain would be located in one of the world’s hottest places. The fountain opened in 1985 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and was donated to the city by King Fahd. Water shoots from the base of the fountain at speeds of 233 mph and can shoot up between 853 and 1,024 feet.
15. Fountain of Wealth
Last but not least, the Fountain of Wealth in Suntec City, Singapore is another of many incredible fountains. Though it was the world’s largest fountain in 1998, it has since been displaced by others on this list. Still, this charming piece of architecture is still worth seeing—you can even collect coins from the middle of it!
Are there any fountains we left off this list? Tell us in the comments below!
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