Jump to content

Mercury fountain: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Added {{no footnotes}} tag to article (TW)
hatnote
Line 1: Line 1:
{{about|fountains using mercury}}
{{no footnotes|date=August 2014}}
{{no footnotes|date=August 2014}}
A '''mercury fountain''' is a [[fountain]] constructed for use with [[mercury (element)|mercury]] rather than [[water]].
A '''mercury fountain''' is a [[fountain]] constructed for use with [[mercury (element)|mercury]] rather than [[water]].

Revision as of 10:32, 21 August 2014

A mercury fountain is a fountain constructed for use with mercury rather than water.

The most noted example is a modern sculpture designed by the American artist Alexander Calder and commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris. The artwork is a memorial to the siege of Almadén, which then supplied 60 percent of the world's mercury, by General Franco's troops. A direct counterpart is Picasso's Guernica. Calder's mercury fountain, now at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, is displayed behind glass for safety reasons.

Mercury fountains existed in some castles in Islamic Spain; the most famous one was located at the Kasr-al-Kholaifa in Córdoba.