A jewel of the Second Spanish Renaissance in Rosario. The Fountain of the Spaniards

Abstract

The Fuente de los Españoles, a gift of the Spanish community on the Second Centennial of Rosario in October 1925, inaugurated in the Parque Independencia on July 7, 1929, gathers multiple histories. That of glazed ceramics developed by the Arabs in the peninsula, transfigured in its motifs by Italian influence and resurrected in the context of the Second Spanish Renaissance by the alfar of J. Ruiz de Luna, winner of the competition for its execution. The celebration of a false centennial to publicize the works undertaken by Mayor M. Pignetto, an occasion for immigrant associations to compete with the institutions of traditional families. The curious convergence of local aesthetic nationalism with the spiritual vindication of the “hispanidad”, one of whose main cultists, R. de Maeztu, was present at the inauguration. The story of urban parks as a sign of civility where hygienism, new social practices and the pedagogy of taste converge. Finally the misadventures of the fountain, considered the greatest in the world of its kind, until its early reopening.