Ain El Fouara Fountain on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Ain El Fouara Fountain ( ar, نافورة عين الفوارة, lit=fountain spring gushing) is an emblematic and famous monument of Setif in
Ain El Fouara Fountain ( ar, نافورة عين الفوارة, lit=fountain spring gushing) is an emblematic and famous monument of Setif in Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
. This fountain consists of a statue made in 1898 by the French sculptor Francis de Saint-Vidal.
The statue, representing a totally naked woman, is the subject of several acts of vandalism
Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.
The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term ...
.
History
It was initially a simple fountain built around a spring by Military engineering after the occupation of Sétif. Its water was warm during winter and fresh in summer. But its progressive deterioration obliged the municipal council to think about its restoration. Especially M. Bastide, councilor, who addressed the issue of the reparation of the fountain in 1894. Two years later in 1896, the mayor of Sétif, M. Aubry, during a trip inParis
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, asked the director of “ Les Beaux-Arts” to donate a statue that will be used for the decoration of the fountain.
In 1898, the mayor received a letter informing him that the statue made by Francis de Saint-Vidal was ready.
The establishment of the statue and all work was finished in 1899.
On 22 April 1997, the statue was damaged in a bomb blast blamed on islamists
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...
and on 28 February 2006 an Islamist damaged the statue with a hammer. Each time it was repaired. On 18 December 2017, a man defaced the statue for a third time, removing the facial features and breasts with a hammer and chisel. The restored statue was unveiled on 4 August 2018, only to suffer a further Islamist attack on 9 October 2018. The minister, Azzedine Mihoubi
Azzedine Mihoubi (born January 1, 1959) is an Algerian political candidate and ex journalist, poet, novelist. He served as the Algerian Minister of Culture.
Early life
Azzedine Mihoubi was born on January 1, 1959, in Khadra, Algeria. He graduated ...
, announced on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that the damage was slight and would be repaired.
See also
*Aniconism in Islam
Aniconism in Islam is the avoidance of images (aniconism) of sentient beings in some forms of Islamic art. Islamic aniconism stems in part from the prohibition of idolatry and in part from the belief that the creation of living forms is God's pr ...
* List of cultural assets of Algeria
References