Obelisk Fountain
Davide VadalaDavide Vadala|Guest Contributor|SIGHTSEEING, ROME Updated : Dec 21, 2016, 04.54 PM IST
Davide Vadala
Davide has been a long term traveller for the last seven years, sharing his stories and impressive photos on NomadTravellers.com and travelling sustainably and very low cost. He knows every corner of Europe, in particular Italy and Romania, he loves Nepali Himalaya and he has extensive experience in South East Asia, where he calls Indonesia his second home. He is specialized in sightseeing guides and reports from his first hand experiences, with a focus on nature, arts and architecture.
It is a favourite place for tourists because of its location and reputation. In fact, the fountain is surrounded by steps on four sides where people relax while watching the Twin Churches, the Pincio terrace, and the entrance gate of Porta del Popolo.
Even though strictly forbidden, it’s not rare to see tourists climbing the lions to take selfies; we don’t support this action though.
The fountain is of architectural size, and on the four corners of the square staircase there are four circular basins of the same size. Overlooking the water pools stand four lions on stepped pyramids From the mouth of the lions is spouting water in the shape of a fan.
But the main feature of the fountain is the Central Egyptian obelisk reaching 36 meters including basement and cross, originally built during the 13th century BC and brought in Rome in 10 BC. The fountain was designed in 1822 by Giuseppe Valadier, the architect responsible for the whole rearrangement of the square.
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