Weyler Square Fountain

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 1899 · Authors: Achille Canessa

At the end of the 19th century, Weyler Square underwent a major improvement with the placement in its centre of this magnificent Carrara marble fountain, commissioned in 1897 from the workshop of the Genoese artist Achille Canessa, by the then mayor of Santa Cruz, Pedro Schwartz.

It is a sculptural group that emerges from a square pedestal featuring four shells at its corners that collect the water spouted from the mouths of four dolphins positioned above. Riding on these are cherubs. Above this body rises another in the shape of a pyramid that serves as the base for another dolphin and two more cherubs. Masks and garlands are distributed throughout the ensemble.

The fountain was installed in 1899 in the centre of the square, coinciding both with the central axis of the façade of the Captaincy building and with the vanishing point of the alignment of Castillo Street.

This sculptural ensemble is one of the best finished and most prestigious in the entire city.

28.467707, -16.25572