Fontanna Neptuna, Gdańsk

Neptune’s Fountain fills the space before the Artus Court. This historic fountain stands on Długi Targ before the entrance to the Artus Court. Neptune, the Roman god of sea and ocean, is the fountain’s subject and namesake.

Mayor Bartłomiej Schachmann and the city council set the project in motion. Design, sculpture, and foundry work continued from sixteen oh six to sixteen fifteen. Abraham van den Blocke created the design for Neptune, while the Flemish artist Piotr Husen made the model needed for casting.

The six hundred and fifty kilogram figure was cast in bronze at Gdańsk’s municipal foundry in sixteen twelve. At the fountain’s rim, let the crowded ornament hold your attention. Water was intended to reach the fountain through underground pipes, but the available pressure proved insufficient.

The system finally began operating on the ninth of October sixteen thirty-three, and its public inauguration followed on the twenty-third of March sixteen thirty-four. An eighteenth-century alteration gave the fountain its lavish Rococo appearance. War damaged the monument, and it was dismantled and moved away for protection.

Restored after the war, it returned to service in nineteen fifty-four. A later conservation project renewed both the statue and pedestal, adding modern water treatment and illuminated water effects.