Tacna Val d’Osne Fountain

Public Art: Tacna Val d’Osne Fountain

Also Known As: Ornamental Fountain, Pila Ornamental de Tacna and Eiffel Fountain

Sculptors: Michel Joseph Napoleon Liènard (1810-1870) and Mathurin Moreau (1821-1912)

Foundry: The fountain was produced by the Val d’Osne Foundry, the biggest producing fine art
foundry in France. The catalog number was 554T.

Date Unveiled: 1869

Description: This is a bronze copy of the original Val d’Osne Fountain. The 6m high, 4 basin fountain features statues of Neptune, Galatea, Amphitrite and Asis on the lower tier and 4 sea nymphs holding hands on the upper tier. There are 43 water jets. The fountain was restore in 1999.

Location: The Pila Ornamental de Tacna is located Plaza de Armas, Tacna, Peru.

Acknowledgments: A special thank you to Abel Osorio from Chile for kindly providing the photographs and information.

Myth: For some reason, the fountain has long been mistakenly named after Gustav Eiffel the engineer who created the Eiffel Tower.

Rumour: It is rumoured that before the fountain was erected some prominent residents of Tacna placed a few bottles of wine inside the statues.

History of the Val d’Osne Fountains: The Victoria Plaza fountain was produced by the Val d’Osne Foundry, the biggest producing fine art foundry in France during the mid-nineteenth century. At one stage they had over 40,000 objects in their catalogues. This particular fountain design won a gold award at the 1855 Paris World Fair, which would explain why so many copies of it were erected around the world. The sculptures were created by Mathurin Moreau, who worked in the factory from 1849 to 1879 and in which he produced over 100 statues. Some say his work revolutionized the mass production of high-quality models.

List of known Val d’Osne Fountains :

Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mendoza, Argentina
Launceston, Australia
Salvador de Bahia, Brazil
Quebec, Canada
Valparasio, Chile
Liverpool, England
Angers, France
Saint Quentin, France
Soulac sur mer, France
Troyes, France
Tacna, Peru
Lisbon, Portugal (2)                                                                                              
Valencia, Spain
Geneva, Switzerland
Boston, USA (known as The Brewer Fountain)