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Fuente de Apolo

The architect Ventura Rodríguez designed the fountain of Apollo in 1777. The large central basin should have been completed in 1780, as a provisional statue of Apollo, created by José Panuchi with the help of the brothers Roberto and Luis Michel, had been placed in it. That same year Alfonso Bergaz carved the masks of Circe and Medusa, which served as spouts. The works that finish off the fountain, the final sculpture of Apollo and the figures of the Four Seasons, were commissioned to the sculptor Manuel Álvarez who, in December 1781, had already finished their models.

Their execution, however, was delayed for several years due to the lack of stones of the right size in the quarries of Redueña (Madrid) and it was not until 1787 when two pieces weighing seven tons each and the stone for the statue of Apollo, weighing eight, were brought from the aforementioned quarries. When the sculptor Álvarez died in 1797, the figures of the Four Seasons were already completed, but the unfinished figure of Apollo had yet to be finished off. Commissioned in 1799 to Alfonso Bergaz, he concluded it three years later. The work was inaugurated in 1803.

The area around the fountain, located at a lower level of the promenade, was renovated in 1952 by the architect Manuel Herrero Palacios: its surroundings were landscaped to protect it from the public and the slope was leveled, creating a platform from where the fountain could be viewed. Between 1991 and 1995 it was repaired once again and consolidated by means of overall cleaning, stone conservation treatment, waterproofing of the pools and the upgrading of the ornamental lighting.

Fuente de Apolo photograph