The historic Wignacourt Fountain at St Philip Garden in Floriana, originally located in Palace Square, Valletta, was the first fountain erected after the building of the Wignacourt aqueduct; it was unveiled during Eastertide, on 21 April 1615. This beautiful and historic fountain was moved by the British military to St Philip Gardens so that Palace Square could be used for military parades.

The Wignacourt Fountain has a large circular basin with three superimposed basins shaped like seashells, each one smaller than the one below it, supported on a cone-shaped pedestal with four dolphins with upturned tails, or rather what is still left of them.

Although Mepa had scheduled the Wignacourt fountain as a Grade 1 national monument in 2008, it has, regretfully, been neglected and left in a pitiful state, to be  ruined by further corrosion and eventually crumble.

The other historic Wignacourt Tower fountain, opposite Sarria Church in Floriana, shares a similar fate.  

Restoration work is urgently needed to save these historic fountains from further damage before it is too late.

Joe Morana

SLIEMA