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The Tritons' Fountain, in Maltese Il-Funtana tat-Tritoni, is a fountain located in Floriana, Malta. It consists of three bronze Tritons holding up a large basin, balanced on a concentric base built out of concrete and clad in 730 tons of travertine slabs. The fountain is one of Malta's most important Modernist landmarks.
Designed and constructed between 1952 and 1959 under no less than three governing bodies, and conceived jointly by eminent sculptor Chevalier Vincent Apap and his collaborator draughtsman Victor Anastasi, the fountain became unofficially operational on Saturday 16 May 1959.
The fountain was used as a stage for National Celebrations named Mill-Maltin għall-Maltin and is believed to have jeopardized the relatively compromised structural setup of the sculptural group and consequently contributed to the dramatic collapse of the sculptural group which occurred on Wednesday 1 March 1978 at approximately 14:00.
The sculptural group was repaired by Malta Drydocks engineers between January 1986 and April 1987. During this intervention a central sculptural addition consisting of three seagulls and seaweed (also the work of Chev. Apap) was introduced within the sculptural group, however this arrangement subsequently diminished the telamonic role of the mythological Triton figures.
The fountain deteriorated in subsequent decades, and was earmarked for relocation in 2010 when the Heritage Planning Unit of the Planning Authority through its Conservation Officer Kenneth Cauchi advised that the monumental fountain would be best left in situ and any efforts were to be aimed and restoring the whole structure to its original form and reinstate the sculptural group in its dramatic carrying role of the ponderous basin.
The fountain consists of three bronze figures of mythological Tritons holding up a huge circular basin measuring 5m in diameter and weighing approximately 3 tons.
Two of the Tritons are sitting, while the third one is kneeling, and they are balanced on a seaweed base. The face of each Triton is visible when viewed from City Gate. Their posture gives a sense of strength as well as spiral movement, which contribute to the monumentality of the fountain. The water jets were also designed in order to convey the sense of movement. The figures of the Tritons represent Malta's links with the sea, and their design was inspired by the Fontana delle Tartarughe in Rome. After the fountain's platter was damaged in the 1980s, a bronze pillar depicting a flight of seagulls was added to the fountain to support its weight. This was not included once the restoration was completed in 2018.
The base of the fountain was originally designed with a quadripartite plan inspired by Rome's Fontana delle Naiadi, but this was later changed to a tripartite concentric plan. The base is constructed out of reinforced concrete, and it consists of four concentric water basins. The exterior is clad with a total of 730 tons of travertine slabs from Rome. The outer slabs of the vasca intermedia are decorated with a relief representing foliage.
Beneath the structure of the fountain, there are a series of passages and chambers which allow for maintenance and inspection and connect the fountain to the water and electrical services. These underground passages and a pump room cover an area of over 140, and are accessible through a manhole in the pavement near the fountain.
The fountain was designed so as to avoid contrast with the nearby bastions, as well as to blend with the Victorian-era Kingsgate. The gate was demolished five years after the fountain was completed.
The site of the fountain was formerly occupied by St. Madeleine's Lunette, a 17th-century lunette that protected the entrance to Valletta. The lunette was dismantled and its ditch was filled in with rubble in the 19th century, although some parts might have survived beneath the present street level.
The winning proposal was entitled Triton, and it was submitted by the sculptor Vincent Apap. It was designed in collaboration with the draughtsman and designer Victor Anastasi, who was not mentioned on the proposal since he was employed by the PWD. Apap worked on the sculpture of three Tritons in stucco at a former dovecote in Palazzo Parisio, which had been made available by his friend, the marquis Joe Scicluna. Meanwhile, Anastasi worked on the technical and architectural elements of the fountain, including the hydraulic systems, and costs and supplies of materials.
Work on the fountain's foundations began in June 1955 by the contractor Carmelo Grech, and construction of the base was complete by mid-1958. The figures of the Tritons were cast in bronze at the Lagana foundry in Naples, and were put in place in 1959. The total cost of construction was around £80,000. The fountain was switched on for the first time on 16 May 1959, but it was never officially inaugurated due to the uneasy political situation at the time, as Malta's government had just resigned and the islands were under direct colonial rule.
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Look within.
Within is the fountain of good,
and it will ever bubble up,
if thou wilt ever dig.
Marcus Aurelius
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