Mercury Fountain Barcelona, Spain
Category
Fountains
Address
Parc de Montjuïc, s/n, 08038 Barcelona, Spain
Phones
+34 934 43 94 70
Working hours
Tuesday-Saturday 10:00- 19:00 (October-June),10:00- 20:00 ( July-September); Thursday 10:00 - 21:30; Sunday and public holidays 10:00-14:30; Monday-closed.
How to get
The fountain is located on the territory of the Joan Miro Museum of Modern Art. You can get here by buses No. 50, 55
The cost of the visit
Adult ticket - 11 Euros
Spain has the largest deposits of mercury in the world, which began to be developed before our era. For three thousand years, about 500 thousand tons of liquid metal were mined here, which, not knowing that it was deadly, was used for a variety of purposes. Mercury was a metal that medieval alchemists tried to turn into gold, and in many Muslim palaces in Spain, pools were filled with mercury and just admired it.
Especially for the World's Fair in Paris, the Spanish government decided to create something symbolizing the Spanish mercury industry. The American sculptor Alexander Calder, who managed to create the world's only Mercury Fountain, agreed to do this.
After the exhibition in Paris, the Mercury Fountain moved to Barcelona and was shown to visitors of the city without any precautions until 1950. It was only after the world learned about the dangers of mercury vapors that the Mercury Fountain in Barcelona was enclosed in a glass sarcophagus.