Calder Mercury Fountain
Beautiful but toxic fountain of mercury
Category Unusual Monuments
Mercury, also known as quicksilver, remains liquid at room temperature and is a beautiful and graceful metal. Unfortunately it is also extremely toxic.
For many years, the world's greatest source of mercury were the mines at Almadén, Spain, which produced some 250,000 metric tons of mercury over nearly two millenniums of operation.
So when Spain decided to build a monument to the mine (which was long worked by criminals and slave laborers, most of whom died of mercury poisoning), they commissioned American sculptor Alexander Calder to build a beautiful fountain, which instead of pumping water, pumped pure mercury. It was to be displayed at the 1937 World's Fair.
At the time, the inherent beauty of the liquid metal was well understood, but its toxicity was not. Today, the fountain resides in the Fundacio Joan Miro in Barcelona, Spain, and continues to pump pure mercury, though now it does so behind a pane of glass to protect viewers from touching or breathing fumes produced by this deadly work of art.
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- Website Fundacio Joan Miro
- Address Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain
Comments
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Anonymous
August 19, 2009
This was the most amazing thing I saw in Spain during my travels. Fantastic.
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