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Second
Wallace Fountain
By Kathy Leong
Secretary for the Transport and Public Works of the Macau government,
Eng. Ao Man Long, inaugurated the second Wallace Fountain as a commemorative
activity for the World Water Day at the Largo Governador Tamagnini
Barbosa, Taipa on March 22.
Philippe
Wind, executive director of Macao Water, expressed in his welcome
speech that the Macao Water, encouraged by the good responses for
their first Wallace Fountain introduced to Macau last year at Jardim
de S. Francisco, has committed to donating more Wallace Fountains
to the people of Macau.
The
fountain is for "...passers-by and tourists to quench their
thirst while enjoying the unique design of the Wallace Fountain
and the glamor of the surroundings on this offshore island,"
Wind said.
Cheung
Chi Wing, a 13 years old boy, said that the Wallace Fountain is
very good for him. He can have fresh drinking water after playing
basketball. The fountain is located in a corner of the Taipa Village,
close to the restaurant which is well known for its pork chop buns.
According
to Wind, this Wallace Fountain was made in France and transported
to Macau by air. It is worth more than MOP100,000.
Richard
Wallace, a British Philanthropist, conceived the Wallace Fountain
in 1892 to provide drinking water from a sculpture designed in the
French Renaissance style. It is a piece of cast metal sculpture,
2.75m tall and in green color. The water flows continuously from
the center of a dome at the top with four "Goddesses"
which support the roof of the fountain. Wind said that they represent
Simplicity, Temperance, Charity and Goodness.
"The
Wallace Fountain is well chosen as it does not only transliterate
the pronunciation, but also embodies the meaning of what the goddesses
stand for - harmonious, beautiful, which very aptly describes Macau,"
Wind added.
Today,
Wallace Fountains are not only seen in Paris and other cities in
France. They are in more than 20 counties and cities throughout
the world. And Macau is proud to be the second city in Asia, only
after Tokyo, Japan, to have this French art work.
The
Macao Water plans to donate more Wallace Fountains in the future,
however, no date for the third one has been confirmed yet.
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