Fountains, Squares and Bridges

Fontana Angelica

It was inaugurated on October 28, 1929 thanks to the testamentary legacy of Paolo Bajnotti, Minister of the Kingdom of Italy. In his will he left to the municipality of Turin 150,000 liras for the realization of a fountain called Angelica, placed in Piazza San Giovanni and bearing an inscription dedicated to his parents. In 1920 the commission in charge of the construction of the fountain thought it was appropriate to move the location of the statue in Piazza Solferino. This change of position forced the sculptor Giovanni Riva to modify essential elements of the statue in order to maintain the esoteric coordinates of the construction. The original position wanted the fountain to point towards East; moving the statue it was necessary to modify the point of observation of the two male statues Winter and Autumn, respectively Boaz and Jaquim. The two giants Boaz and Jaquim, are the guardians of the Pillars of Hercules, the threshold that leads to knowledge. Boaz represents darkness and ignorance, he looks to the east where the sun rises in the direction of Jaquim, the other male statue that represents perfection, light, knowledge. Boaz and Jaquim hold wineskins from which water gushes out, symbolizing the knowledge with which human beings drink. Between the two male figures there is a perfectly regular gap that represents the passage to knowledge guarded by Boaz and Jaquim beyond which there is something unknown to us. Spring and Summer are the two female statues placed at the extreme sides of the fountain. Spring represents virtue, the knowledge of the sacred reserved for a few initiates. Summer represents vice, profane knowledge, revealed to all but hidden through symbols.

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