[Photo courtesy of the U.S. Capitol]
Our map of public art briefly touched on the magnificence of the Bartholdi Fountain but here's a little more insight. The name of the fountain is actually called "The Fountain of Light and Water," but it's more commonly referenced as The Bartholdi Fountain after its creator. French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi made the fountain for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Bartholdi has a more well-known work of art up in New York, the Statue of Liberty. The United States Congress bought the fountain from Bartholdi at half of his original asking price and it currently stands in the Botanic Garden, where it's been since 1932. One of D.C.'s first nighttime monuments (note the lamps at the top of the fountain) underwent a complete restoration in 2008, so to visit it today is to visit a renewed structure.
· Bartholdi Fountain [Wikipedia]
· All Hidden Memorials [CDC]