{"id":2887,"date":"2014-11-12T20:08:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T20:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2026-10-09T14:21:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T14:21:43","slug":"fuente-de-neptuno-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/articles\/fuente-de-neptuno-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuente de Neptuno, Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fuente de Neptuno (Neptune Fountain) stands in the middle of Plaza de C\u00e1novas del Castillo, on the Paseo del Prado in Madrid. It shows the Roman god of the sea on a shell-shaped chariot and is one of the three 18th-century fountains designed for the Sal\u00f3n del Prado. This post covers its history, what the sculpture shows and what is within a few minutes’ walk.<\/p>\n

History of the fountain<\/h2>\n

The fountain was part of the layout of the Sal\u00f3n del Prado, the tree-lined promenade created under Charles III. The plan placed a fountain at each end, Neptune and Cibeles, and a third, Apollo, in the middle. The architect Ventura Rodr\u00edguez signed the design for Neptune in 1780, according to the Madrid city council’s monuments register.<\/p>\n

The sculpture was commissioned from Juan Pascual de Mena. Because of his advanced age, his pupil Jos\u00e9 Arias carved the figure of Neptune and the horses. When Pascual de Mena died, the shell chariot, the water and the dolphins were still unfinished; they were completed by Jos\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez, Pablo de la Cerda and Jos\u00e9 Guerra, who reported the end of the work on 30 October 1786. All the carving is in white marble from Montesclaros (Toledo), the same stone used for the Cibeles fountain, which has stood on the Paseo since 1782.<\/p>\n

Until 1897 the fountain stood further along the Prado, between the central roadway and the Paseo de Trajineros, facing Cibeles. The city council then decided to move it to the centre of the new Plaza de C\u00e1novas del Castillo, and by 1898 the move was complete. Since then the fountain has been repaired several times: it was covered with a protective structure during the Civil War, a second basin was added in 1969, and it was restored in 1981\u201382 and again in 1995.<\/p>\n

What the sculpture shows<\/h2>\n

Neptune stands on a chariot in the form of a shell, rising from a rocky base. He holds a trident, and the chariot is drawn by two hippocamps, the mythological sea-horses that stand for storms and the raging sea. Dolphins complete the group. In Roman mythology Neptune is the son of Saturn and Ops and the brother of Jupiter, the equivalent of the Greek Poseidon. From the Renaissance onwards he was used as an image of a ruler’s command of the seas. In 18th-century Spain that meant the Crown’s overseas trade and possessions.<\/p>\n

The bronze trident is not the original: the first one was stolen and was replaced in 1814.<\/p>\n

Neptune and Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid<\/h2>\n

The fountain is the place where supporters of Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid celebrate their team’s victories, while Real Madrid supporters gather at Cibeles. On any other day the square is a busy roundabout, and the fountain is seen from the pavements around it rather than from close up.<\/p>\n

What is nearby<\/h2>\n

The fountain lies in the Paseo del Arte area. The Paseo del Prado and El Retiro Park, known together as the Landscape of Light, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 25 July 2021.<\/p>\n