Onophrian Fountain, Dalmatia, Croatia

4David D 5:00 PM Jul 18, 2022

Old fountain 16 spouts- keep an eye out for the dog statue on the top
This sixteen sided fountain is situated just inside Pile Gate in the Old Town of Dubrovnik. It is the first sight to greet visitors as they enter the town through the gate. It was originally built in 1438 to celebrate the creation of a water supply system to the Town. It was designed by an Italian architect, Onofrio di Giordano della Cava, hence it's name. This stone built structure comprises of sixteen sides, each side has it's own water spout which eminates from the mouth of a carved gargoyle. The water flows into a stone reservoir below. Each corner of the build has a circular pillar which frames each section and it's water spout. All topped by a red coloured stone domed roof. It is a popular meeting point so at times gets rather busy. When we were here there was a guy sitting on the steps of the fountain, dressed in traditional Croatian clothing playing a traditional instrument, obviously collecting money. He was sitting in front of a particular gargoyle and spout, which had a plaque, above the spout, which had details about the fountain carved in the stone. Above all this is the statue of a dog, locals refer to it as “kuchak” the fountain dog. On another visit to the Old Town We walked the old walls and this Fountain was one of the identifiable landmarks we saw from above. Visitors filled their water bottles from the water spout. Onofrio also designed a smaller fountain, which is located in the Old Town by the building of the City Guard on Luza square,

4Michael B 5:00 PM Oct 10, 2020

This is a really impressive fountain and has stood the stand time well.
Just inside the Pile Gate is this very interesting fountain, built by Onofrio della Cava in 1440, it was one of the ending points of the new free fall aqueduct system. This aqueduct brought water to the old city from the spring at Sumet, nearly 8 miles away. Each of the sixteen sides has a unique stone-carved masked face with the faucet projecting out of the mouth of each design. There used to be a dragon on the top but it was damaged by the earthquake in 1667. Likewise, the water dog you see on top fell off in the 19th Century and was badly damaged so a replica has replaced it. TIP: A great place to fill up your water bottle, the water is fresh, sweet and Free. The original water dog was badly damaged in the 19th Century this is a new one on top of Onophrian’s Fountain If you found this review informative please check the box below. Thank you, the world is yours to explore.