Magic Fountain of Montjuic

Brief information

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic appeared not as a park ornament, but as an engineering gesture for the 1929 World Exhibition. It was built at the foot of Montjuic hill in a futuristic style, and its basin was given an elliptical shape. That is why the place should be read not only as a water show, but as part of an exhibition stage designed for the effect of form, light, and movement.

Until the 1992 Olympics, the fountain went for a long time without reconstruction: lighting remained its main expressive means. Music appeared later, when the fountains were turned into one of the city’s symbols. This fact changes the way one looks at the structure: the “magic” here is not original romance, but the result of an added layer of technology that made the old exhibition construction work as a modern performance.

What to notice first

It makes sense to connect three visible things: the elliptical shape of the basin, the illuminated cascades, and the direction from the two towers on Placa d'Espanya toward the fountain. Together they show that the fountain was conceived not as a separate bowl of water, but as an axial composition: the towers, cascades, and lower point at Montjuic work as a single stage.

One can also notice separately that the effect is created not only by large masses of water, but also by many individual jets. The original description gives the number as 3,620 jets: this explains why the movement of the fountain is perceived as a “dance,” and not simply as water turned on. Another important detail is hidden in the show’s mechanism: earlier, the water supply, music, and light were controlled by people; later, the processes were automated. Thus the fountain can be viewed as a mechanism in which the form of 1929 is connected with a controlled light-and-music spectacle.