Mermaid Statues & Fountains at Rossio Square, Lisbon

There are 2 large fountains in Rossio Square (also known as Pedro IV Square) in Lisbon, each with 4 mermaid statues.   map

The bronze sculptures were created by sculptors Mathurin Moreau and Michel Lienard, and were installed with the fountains in 1889.  They were created in Val d’Osne, France and then imported to Portugal.

The centerpiece of these fountains appears to be amongst several casts from an original 1855 fountain by Michel Joseph Napoléon Liénard, featured featured at the 1855 Paris World Fair.

Other copies with minor variations can be found across the world, including the Steble Fountain in Liverpool, the Tourny Fountain in Québec, Fuente Francesa Avenida 9 de Julio on Av. Cordoba y Cerrito in Buenos Aires and the Fountain of Ceres in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. The fountain is decorated with the figures of Neptune, Amphitrite (Neptune’s wife), and Acis and Galatea, a couple from Greek mythology.

Amphitrite was arguably a mermaid, and in Greek mythology is the mother of Triton.

Rossio Square fountain with 4 mermaid statues. Photo © by Lucia Whittaker.

Mermaid Statues in the Rossio Square fountains, Lisbon. Photo © by Ashley David Jones.

Mermaid Statue in the Rossio Square, Lisbon. Photo © by Kimberley Blue.

Mermaid Statue in the Rossio Square, Lisbon. Photo © by Carlos Sanchez http://csanchez.org

Mermaid Statues in the Rossio Square fountains, Lisbon. Photo © by Aleksandra Bugarinovic.

One of the Mermaid Statues in the Rossio Square fountains in Lisbon. Photo by J. Kathleen Cheney

The Rossio Square Fountain – mermaid in background. Photo by Sharleen Benoit

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossio_Square

Amphitrite mermaid sculpture

On the origins of mermaids