The now dismantled fountain from the Istropolis complex has made it on the cover of the Modernist Fountains of Bratislava book. (source: Jana Liptáková)
Hidden in the atrium of the House of Science and Technology, once part of the Istropolis complex in Bratislava, there used to stand a stainless-steel fountain. More than 40 small spheres on the ends of rods radiating from a sphere standing on another, magically reflected the surroundings or the faces of those who dare come close enough. It has recently disappeared along with the iconic congress centre on Trnavské Mýto Square. While the developer Immocap pulled down the landmark with the adjacent office tower, it dismantled the fountain, promising to give it a chance in the new project.
The fate of this unique and sculpturally very attractive fountain so intrigued the authors of the book Modernist Fountains in Bratislava that they placed its image on the front as well as back cover.
“Symbolically, this foreshadows the fragility of the book’s entire contents, where present and unnoticed fountains can be easily lost to oblivion from day to day due to disinterest and lack of care,” Martin Zaiček, architect and co-author of the Slovak-English book told The Slovak Spectator.
Immocap assures that the work of art once part of Istropolis will return to the New Istropolis project site. The new development should consist of a new cultural and social centre, residential and administrative buildings, as well as a congress hotel.
“In the New Istropolis project, we have reserved a representative and accessible place in one of the new squares for the fountain,” Martin Šramko, CEO of Immocap, told The Slovak Spectator.
The fountain, designed by Pavol Mikšík, is one of dozens of fountains built in the capital during the previous regime under Title V. This was a scheme under which a share of the state construction budget was obligatorily spent on art in the public space.
