Water Keeps Coming Down

Europe

Sweden

God, Our Father on the Rainbow is a fountain in Stockholm, Sweden. It was designed by Swedish sculptor Carl Miles in 1946. It is a monument to peace celebrating the founding of the United Nations. You can see the fountain and bronze sculpture on the main street in central Stockholm.

England

Vortex Fountain is the creation of water sculptor William Pye. It was created in 2000 for the Seaham Hotel and Spa located near Sunderland, in the north of England. Charybdis is the name of a mermaid that was mentioned in “The Odyssey” by Homer. She was struck by a lightning bolt from Zeus, turning her into a whirlpool. This was punishment for stealing an ox from Hercules. Pye later on built similar sculptures, all of which were influenced by the history of Oman and Campinas.

France

The Stravinsky Fountain in Paris France is a public fountain located on Place Stravinsky, next to the Centre Pompidou. The fountain is decorated with sixteen sculptures that move and spray water. These represent the works of composer Igor Stravinsky. It was created by sculptors Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle in 1983.

Austria

The Swarovski Crystal World is a museum located in Wattens, Austria. It was built in 1995 for the centenary of the famous Austrian crystal company, Swarovski. In front of the Crystal Worlds Center, you can see a grass-covered head with a mouth that is a fountain. It was created by Austrian artist, author, poet, singer, songwriter, and actor André Heller.

The Cascades of Hercules is located inside the Bergpark Wilhelmshohe in Kassel, Germany. Here you see water flowing from a giant statue of Hercules. The water passes by a water wheel unit, various fountains, waterfalls, basins, and caves. It was set up by Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel from 1689. He wanted to show his power as an absolute ruler. The inspiration for this fountain came from various Italian, French, and English garden art designs. Italian architect Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri created the design.

Republic of Macedonia

In 2011 the largest statue in the world of Alexander the Great was erected in Skopje, Macedonia. Macedonians sang the national anthem and other patriotic songs, while cranes lifted the bronze statue onto the pedestal. This equestrian statue shows the Macedonian king riding his horse Bucephalus. Symbolically, the bronze statue is facing east toward Asia, in the direction of Persia. The statue is atop a cylindrical column pedestal and is the centerpiece of a large circular fountain. It dominates the downtown square “Macedonia” in Skopje.

Italy

The Rain Man is a contemporary art masterpiece created by Belgian artist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor Jean-Michel Folon and given as a gift to Florence, Italy. This was before the Social Forum in 2002. The bronze statue shows a man with water coming out of the top of the statue shaped like an umbrella. You can see it in the middle of a crossroad between Lungarno Aldo Moro and Viale Enrico de Nicola, near the Varlungo Bridge.

Among the most famous fountains is the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy. The fountain was designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and later completed by Pietro Bracci. It is a lovely Baroque fountain and has been in many popular films like “Three Coins in the Fountain.” The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 and renovated in 1998. The Roman fashion house Fendi carried out a restoration to the fountain in 2015. 

The Oval Fountain is located at the Villa D'Este in Tivoli, near Rome. It is famous for its terraced hillside, Italian Renaissance garden, and many fountains. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site and an Italian state museum. The Oval Fountain was one of the first fountains in the garden. Designed by Pirro Ligorio, the architect of the villa. It sprays water in different forms like in a water theater. Begun in 1565, the fountain was finished in 1570. 

Spain

The Magic Tap is located at Aqualand in Cadiz Spain. It is a unique fountain because it looks like a giant faucet floating in the air. It is suspended over a swimming pool. Water rises through a pipe and comes out from the top. It is the creation of French sculptor Philippe Thill.

The magic fountain of Montjuic offers a lovely display of color, light, motion, music, and water acrobatics. It is located at the head of Avinguda Maria Cristina, in the Montjuic neighborhood of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by Carles Buiges and is situated below the Palau Nacional on the Montjuic Mountain, near the Placa d'Espanya and Poble Espanyol de Barcelona. The fountain was constructed for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.

Asia

The Divers Fountain at the Dubai Mall in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates is an interesting work of art. It features fiberglass sculptures of divers traversing all four levels of the indoor shopping mall. It was designed by Singapore-based DPA Architects in 2009.

King Fahd's Fountain also called the Jeddah Fountain is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is the tallest of its type in the world. The fountain was donated to the city by King Fahd. The fountain is located on the west coast and jets out water from 260 meters high to 312 meters above the Red Sea. It jets out salt water taken from the sea. At night over 500 spotlights illuminate this fountain.

The Dubai Fountain is the world's second-largest choreographed fountain system. It is located on the manmade Burj Khalifa Lake, at the center of the downtown Duba development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The fountain was designed by WET Design, a California-based company in the US. It gets illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 color projectors. The water jetting out is accompanied by music ranging from classical to contemporary Arabic to world music.

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Fountain is located in the park Ancient Siam in Thailand. It is decorated with dragons and has a large Buddha in the center. The park was built in 1963 and is considered to be the largest open-air museum in the world.

The Nine Floating Fountains is an amazing creation by Japanese landscape architect Isamu Noguchi. It was built for the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, in 1970. These are fountains that seem to fly.

Osaka Station Fountain Clock is located in the South Gate Building of the new Osaka Station City complex. This is a large rectangular fountain displaying a digital reading of the time of day. It had shifting floral motifs and falling shapes along the water wall. The fountain was designed by a local company, Koei Industry. It is operated by a digitally controlled printer, that ejects water droplets with patterns to reproduce images stored on a PC. The water droplets are illuminated by ambient lights.

The Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City, one of Singapore's largest shopping malls, was constructed in 1995. It is recognized since 1998 by the Guinness Book of World Records, as the World's Largest Fountain. This fountain is a symbol of wealth and life. Its bronze ring was designed based on the Hindu Mandala, meaning universe. It symbolizes the oneness in spirit and unity and also symbolizes the equality and harmony of all races and religions in Singapore. The Fountain of Wealth is made of silicon, and bronze, and consists of a circular ring supported by four large slanted columns. It was designed and installed by DCG Design and Meridian Projects based in Melbourne, Australia. Five tower blocks represent the fingers, and thumb of a left hand emerging from the ground. The fountain forms the palm of the hand. There is a water screen for nightly laser shows.

The Moonlight Rainbow Fountain is the longest bridge fountain in the world and has set a Guinness World Record with nearly 10.000 1.140 meters long LED nozzles running along the sides which fire 190 tons of water per minute. It was installed on the Banpo Bridge in 2009 and the water is pumped directly from the Han River.

Canada

Mother Earth is a fountain that was created for the 2013 edition of the Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal exhibition in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. It is the creative work of Lise Cormier, a non-profit company that designs, sets up, and manages exhibitions, gardens, and mosaic works. The exhibition is considered to be one of the most prestigious horticulture art competitions in the world.

The USA

The Unisphere is a spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth. It is located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City. The large sphere was built for the 1964 New York World's Fair and has become the borough's most iconic and enduring symbol. The theme of the World's Fair was “Peace Through Understanding.”

The fountain at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Washington DC is a lovely cylindrical fountain. The water flows into a swimming pool in the center of the room, coming from a skylight at the top. 

Crown Fountain is an interactive work of public art and video sculpture at Millennium Park in Chicago Illinois. It was designed by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa and built by Krueck and Sexton Architects in 2004. The fountain consists of a black granite reflecting pool between a pair of glass-brick towers. The towers are 50 feet tall and use light-emitting diodes/LEDs to display digital videos on their inward faces. The faces are photos taken of 1,000 residents of Chicago just for the fountain.

The Pineapple Fountain is the focal point of Charleston Waterfront Park in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened in 1990 and people enjoy the pineapple motifs common in Charleston since they represent hospitality.

Fountain Metalmorphosis in Charlotte, North Carolina is partly a sculpture and partly a fountain. It is a large kinetic sculpture of a human head and the artwork of Czech sculptor David Cerny. It consists of two dozen stainless steel plates that rotate independently and periodically align, forming a huge human head. It is surrounded by a raised pool and as the plates line up, water flows out of its mouth.

The Fountains of Bellagio are located at Bellagio resort, luxury hotel, and casino in Las Vegas Nevada. The fountains have a vast, choreographed water feature with performances set to light and music along the Strip. The fountains are in a manmade lake and are the creation of WET, a design firm that specializes in inventive fountains and architectural water features. It was once the largest fountain in the world but was surpassed by the Dubai Fountain and Okada Manila.

Julie Penrose Fountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado was designed by David Barber and Bill Burgess. It is located in America the Beautiful Park. This fountain has an open loop of silvery-colored steel panels that have 366 water jets lining the interior contours of its form. Since it sits on a hidden turntable, it rotates every fifteen minutes. The fountain represents the life-giving movement of water between the atmosphere and the earth. The name of the fountain is that of a wealthy American philanthropist.

The Mustangs of Los Colinas is a bronze sculpture created by sculptor Robert Glen. This magnificent sculpture is located at Williams Square in Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. It is thought to be the largest equestrian sculpture in the world. It depicts horses running through a stream, and the fountain gives the effect that water is being splashed up by the horses' hooves. Horses represent the drive, initiative, and limitless lifestyle, representative of the state in pioneer days. 

Keller Fountain is located at Keller Fountain Park in downtown Portland Oregon. The fountain is the symbol of the park and was designed by landscape architect Angela Danadjieva. Its inspiration is the falls of the Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland. The fountain received a medal from the American Society of Landscape Architects for its architectural and landscape beauty.

South America