View source for Mercury fountain

{{Short description|Decorative fountain using mercury as the liquid}}
{{about|fountains using liquid metallic mercury|the bronze Mercury Fountain at Oxford University|Tom Quad|the stone statue in Mexico|Fountain of Mercury}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2022}}

A '''mercury fountain''' is a [[fountain]] constructed for use with liquid metallic [[mercury (element)|mercury]] ("quicksilver") rather than water.

Mercury fountains existed in some castles in [[Al-Andalus|Islamic Spain]]; the most famous one was located at the Kasr-al-Kholaifa in [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]].{{cn|date=May 2021}}

==Calder's ''Mercury Fountain''==
[[File:Font de Mercuri d'Alexander Calder.jpg|thumb|left|Calder's fountain of mercury at the [[Fundació Joan Miró]] in [[Barcelona]]]] 
The most well-known modern example is a sculpture designed by the American artist [[Alexander Calder]], commissioned by the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republican government]] for the [[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)|1937 World Exhibition in Paris]]. The artwork is a memorial to the siege of [[Almadén]] by [[Francisco Franco|General Franco]]'s troops; at the time, the region supplied 60&nbsp;percent of the world's mercury.<ref name=calder>{{Cite web |last=Jessop |first=Tara |date=2016-08-08 |title=Calder Mercury Fountain: The World's Most Beautiful Yet Deadly Monument |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/calder-mercury-fountain-the-worlds-most-beautiful-yet-deadly-monument/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=Culture Trip}}</ref>
[[File:Calder Mercury Fountain July 1937 Paris Worlds Fair.jpg|thumb|Alexander Calder, pictured with ''Mercury Fountain'' and Pablo Picasso's ''Guernica'' in 1937]]
The fountain was a sculptural counterpart to ''[[Guernica (painting)|Guernica]]'', [[Pablo Picasso]]'s protest against [[Spanish Civil War]] atrocities. Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'' is now at the [[Fundació Joan Miró]] in [[Barcelona]], displayed behind glass to control [[Mercury poisoning|toxic mercury vapors]].<ref name=calder /><ref>{{cite web |title=Calder Around the World |url=https://calder.org/calder-around-the-world/ |website=Calder Foundation |access-date=19 May 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/barcelona/fundmiro/calder.html Photos of Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'' by Mary Ann Sullivan]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q35_zuffGqk Video of Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'' in installation context]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOn5nzF90yA Closeup video of flow in Calder's ''Mercury Fountain'']

{{Alexander Calder|state=collapsed}}
{{1937 Paris International Exposition of Arts and Techniques Applied to Modern Life}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury Fountain}}
[[Category:Fountains]]
[[Category:Mercury (element)]]
[[Category:Sculptures by Alexander Calder]]
[[Category:1937 sculptures]]

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{{Spain-sculpture-stub}}

[[ca:Font de mercuri]]
[[es:Fuente de Mercurio]]