Carriedo Fountain (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''Fuente Carriedo'') is a

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

in Santa Cruz,

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It was built in honor of the 18th-century ''Capitán General'' of Manila, Don Francisco Carriedo y Peredo, benefactor of Manila's pipe water system. It was moved three times before its current location at Plaza Santa Cruz, right in front of the Santa Cruz Church.

History

Since pre-colonial times, Manila residents used the

Pasig River The Pasig River ( fil, Ilog Pasig) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and souther ...

as their main source of water. The water was filtered through cloth in a ''tapayan'' (earthenware cooling jar) and then cleansed with

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , where is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium or a ...

. According to

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...

, the rivers and '' esteros'' in

Binondo Binondo () is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas and Tondo. It is the oldest Chinatown in the world, established in 1594 by the ...

were used as bath, sewer, laundry, fishery, transport and even drinking water. This can be one of the reasons for water-borne epidemics during those periods. Francisco Carriedo y Peredo (November 7, 1690 – September 1743), a native of

Santander, Spain Santander () is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. It is a port city located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao with a population of 172,000 (2017). It is believed to ...

, and general of the Santa Familia galleon, raised funds for the construction of the water system of Manila. He donated ten thousand pesos drawn from his fortune from the Acapulco-Manila investments. He did not live to see his resolve of creating a water system in Manila take fruit. The system was constructed a century afterwards, through the exhaustive research of the Spanish Franciscan friar

Felix Huerta Felix Huerta, O.F.M., was a Spanish Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, scholar and missionary to the Philippines during the 19th century, when it was still a colony of Spain. He is best known for authoring a history of local Catholic parishes which ...

, who was serving as administrator of the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, using his long-forgotten funds, which Huerta tracked down after going through over 300 documents. Under his urging, the Carriedo Fountain was built in May 1882 as part of the Carriedo water works system and was inaugurated by Governor-General

Fernando Primo de Rivera Fernando Primo de Rivera y Sobremonte, 1st Marquess of Estella (24 July 1831 – 23 May 1921) was a Spanish politician and soldier. Fernando Primo de Rivera was the son of Antonio Hermenegildo Primo de Rivera y Sobremonte and his wife Ana Ma ...

on July 24, 1882. It was named after the man who had conceived of and eventually funded the system, Francisco Carriedo y Peredo (1690–1743). The fountain was first located at the Rotonda de Sampaloc, the intersection between Legarda, Lacson and

Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh president of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an aircraft disaster on March 17, 1957. An automo ...

streets which today forms the Nagtahan Interchange that separates Sampaloc from Santa Mesa since Don Francisco Carriedo y Peredo reside in Santa Mesa, Manila. The roundabout was cleared in 1976 due to traffic concerns, and the fountain was then transferred to the

Balara Filters Park The Balara Filters Park is a park located in the Diliman village of Pansol in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, adjacent to the University of the Philippines Diliman main campus. It is bounded by Katipunan Avenue on the west, Capitol Hills ...

, in front of the

Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

(MWSS) building right after they moved from their office in Arroceros, Manila, in the latter part of the 1970s.

Replica

In the 1990s, during the first term of then-Manila Mayor

Alfredo Lim Alfredo "Fred" Siojo Lim Jr.. (; December 21, 1929 – August 8, 2020) was a Filipino politician and police officer who served as a Senator of the Philippines from 2004 to 2007. He also served as the Mayor of Manila twice: first from 1992 to 19 ...

, he convinced MWSS administrator Mr. Luis E. V. Sison to bring back the Carriedo Fountain to Manila. MWSS agreed but requested that the fountain be replicated. The company commissioned national artist

Napoleon Abueva Napoleon "Billy" Veloso Abueva (January 26, 1930 – February 16, 2018) was known as the "Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture" Through Proclamation No. 1539. He was proclaimed National Artist for Sculpture in 1976 when he was 46, making him th ...

to replicate the original Carriedo Fountain in the spot where it was relocated. Abueva worked for one year using plaster as the primary material to create a rendition that would not be suspected as a replica.

References

{{Coord, 14.59988, N, 120.98035, E, display=title Fountains in Asia Buildings and structures in Santa Cruz, Manila Public art in Metro Manila Cultural Properties of the Philippines in Metro Manila