The Museum Fountain

Among the earliest depictions of the museum building’s façade from 1906, a sketch of the fountain is preserved in Kotěra’s pencil drawing, with a background colored in white and pastel shades representing trees and roofs. In this representation, the fountain tank consists of a single stage and is shaped like a cone or paraboloid. The 1907 watercolor, featuring a Marino sky, still depicts the fountain with a single stage – a large bowl resembling a cone – supported by four stone-like prisms. Even in the nearly definitive project of the façade from the spring of 1908, co-signed by “Jos. Gočár On behalf of Prof. Kotěra,” the form of the fountain remains somewhat indeterminate. Gočár designed it, along with the two light candelabras flanking the entrance façade, in more geometric and constructivist forms. The water tanks were not designed to have the shape of a spherical canopy; instead, they resembled much shallower graduated bands on what appears to be a circular plan. Moreover, Gočár’s version of the fountain likely featured three tiers.
 

Kotěra’s design of the fountain at the end of 1908, within the realization project of the museum building, stood as the definitive plan for some time. In 1912, Kotěra revisited the fountain’s design while planning the landscaping around the museum building. A significant addition in the detailed design from 1912 was the incorporation of four gilded copper spheres, a feature not present in the 1908 design or the 1910 drawing. The design of the fountain coincided with discussions on the park landscaping in late March and early April 1912. A resolution from the museum curatorial office, likely predating the detailed design work, outlined specific conditions and material specifications. In a letter dated 19 March 1912, Jan Kotěra supplied drawings and a quotation from Josef Víšek’s company from Prague. Another offer came from stone sculptor Václav Škoda of Hradec Králové, dated 15 April 1912; on its reverse side there is probably a later record of the award of the contract for the fountain and fountain to Škoda and its conditions. However, the work was not awarded to Škoda until a meeting of the museum building department on 23 July 1912. At the end of June, when it became clear that Václav Škoda would be responsible for constructing the fountain, Jan Kotěra advocated for the commencement of construction at a meeting of the museum building department, where he was present in person. By October, Škoda submitted a final offer. The completion of interior works and furnishings in 1913–1914, as well as records from the museum building department minutes, suggest that the production and outfitting of the fountain were postponed due to diminishing funds in subsequent years. The onset of WWI further prolonged the delay. In 1912, the foundation and stone surrounds of the fountain were realized. After the war, the installation of the fountain itself remained pending. Though Jan Kotěra briefly engaged in designing an extension for the museum in 1919, there is no mention of the fountain’s completion during this period. The initiative to complete the fountain was taken up again in 1925 by Václav Škoda. Financial constraints likely hindered the realization in that year. Metal parts of the fountain were not constructed until 1933, and a city truck was dispatched to L. Červinka’s company in Kralupy nad Vltavou on 11 March 1933, obtaining wrought iron parts for the fountain. Cast parts were manufactured in the second half of 1933 by Škoda Works in Hradec Králové. In 1934, the city technical office proposed an update to Kotěra’s design, incorporating lighting elements. However, the contractors from the State Vocational School, especially František Losos, Kotěra’s pupil, were unaware of this. Losos, the author of the updated design, expressed discontent in a letter to the city council on 23 July 1934, asserting that the installation of electric lights without his knowledge disrupted the graceful lines of Kotěra’s work. The lighting equipment was subsequently removed. Construction and installation work was completed in May and June, but the fountain, lacking drains and insulated layers in the bottom, required rebuilding. In 1939. the pump motor was relocated “to increase the power of the fountain at the museum,” but as early as 1946 the fountain was required to be repaired because “the art fountain in front of the museum could noy be put into operation for several years.” During the 1980s exterior renovation of the building, copper-housed reflectors were installed in the fountain. These were restored during the fountain’s renovation in 2018–2019.
 

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