A mercury fountain is a fountain constructed for use with liquid metallic

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

("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.

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 that time, the region also supplied 60 percent of the world's supply of mercury. The fountain was a sculptural counterpart to ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

'',

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

's protest against

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

atrocities. Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'' is now at the Fundació Joan Miró in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, displayed behind glass to control toxic mercury vapors.

References

External links

Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'' at the Fundació Joan Miró
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q35_zuffGqk Video of Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'' in installation contextbr>Closeup video of flow in Calder's ''Mercury Fountain''
Fountains Mercury (element) Sculptures by Alexander Calder 1937 sculptures {{Spain-sculpture-stub ca:Font de mercuri es:Fuente de Mercurio