Fontaine Bartholdi
The Fontaine Bartholdi is located on the Place des Terreaux in the center of Lyon . It was designed in 1892 by the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi . The original name is Char triomphal de la Garonne (German Truimphwagen of the Garonne ).
history
The origins of the fountain are in the city of Bordeaux . In 1857 they decided to commission a fountain for the Place des Quinconces on the Garonne. The tender was won by Char triomphal de la Garonne by the 23-year-old Alsatian sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi, who is based on Jean-Baptiste Tuby's Apollo Fountain in the garden of Versailles . However, the city council did not pursue the project any further.
It wasn't until 1866 , with the inauguration of the Statue of Liberty, also by Bartholdi, in New York , that the city council became aware of the project again. It took another 22 years for the sculpture to be completed. It was finally presented to the public at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889 . The city of Bordeaux now felt the work was too expensive. Instead, the city of Lyon bought Bartholdi's fountain for 100,000 francs .
Several possible locations were up for debate, including a. the Parc de la Tete d'Or . Bartholdi finally agreed to the Place des Terraux, on the west side of which the fountain opposite the City Hall of Lyon was inaugurated on September 22nd, 1892, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the First Republic .
In 1992 the square was redesigned as part of the construction of an underground car park and the fountain was moved in the middle on its north side opposite the Musée des Beaux-Arts . On September 29, 1995, the fountain was declared a monument historique .
Due to its poor condition, it was completely dismantled in 2016. The scaffolding was rusted and the figures cracked and deformed. The restoration cost over € 2,500,000.00. In October 2017 the fountain was complete again with the installation of amphitrite of the head and was inaugurated on March 22, 2018.
layout
The sea goddess Amphitrite sits on the eponymous triumphal chariot with two children holding amphorae. It once stood for the Garonne river, the four hippocamps for the four main tributaries of the Garonne, near which it was originally supposed to arise. After Lyon had acquired the fountain, there was a reinterpretation: Amphitrite became Marianne , the horses now stood for the four great rivers of France.
The car is made up of aquatic life: the floor and back are made of large shells; the two wheels of the wagon are a combination of sea urchin skeletons , starfish and snail shells . The reins are made of aquatic plants. The horses jump out of the rock-like base overgrown with water plants. The group of figures is 4.85 m high.
The marble basin has a diameter of 15 m and is divided into two parts. Water flows from a rear raised part to the side of the sculpture base into the larger, lower part. In addition, water leaks from the children's amphorae and a third amphora with the name of the sculptor underneath the wagon and flows around the horses onto the rocky base. The horses' nostrils spray fine water dust.
Other
In Bordeaux, instead of the fountain, the much larger Monument aux Girondins by Alphonse Dumilatre was built, which consists of a triumphal column and two fountains very similar to that of Bartholdi.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved August 3, 2019 (French).
- ↑ La Construction Lyonnaise N ° 11. October 1, 1892, pp. 123–124 , accessed on August 5, 2019 (French).
- ↑ La fontaine Bartholdi rénovée ne fait pas l'unanimité. March 21, 2018, accessed August 11, 2019 (French).
- ↑ Retour en images sur l'inauguration de la fontaine Bartholdi restaurée. March 23, 2018, accessed August 11, 2019 (French).
- ^ Place des Terreaux. In: Site Officiel Lyon. Ville de Lyon, accessed on August 5, 2019 (French).
- ↑ La Fontaine Bartholdi. Office du tourisme et des congrès du Grand Lyon, accessed on August 5, 2019 (French).
Coordinates: 45 ° 46 ′ 3.5 ″ N , 4 ° 50 ′ 0.4 ″ E