10. The Triton Fountain

10. The Triton Fountain

The Triton Fountain in Nysa was built from Sławniowice marble in the early 18th century. Triton, according to mythology, was a god of the sea who had to play a conch to stir up and soothe the waves. He was depicted as half-man, half-fish, always with a conch in his hand. The Nysa fountain has just such an effigy. Here we see Triton kneeling on a giant conch with raised hands, in which he holds a conch pressed to his mouth. Triton playing the conch is meant to symbolise the peace and harmony of the town. The artistic appearance of this work builds on Rome’s “Fontana del Tritone”, built by famous Gianlorenz Bernini in 1642-1643 on the order of Pope Urban VIII. This Roman element is not random in Nysa. For several centuries, the town was called Silesian Rome.