The Sun Fountain is actually a dazzling kinetic water sculpture which dates from the 1730s. Here sixteen dolphins spurt water in joyous acclamation of the brilliant display provided by three parallel gilded discs. The latter rotate on a wheel-actuated pillar, each spraying water in such fine streams from its one hundred eighty-seven tiny openings that the combined effect is a poetic simulation of the sun's daily dance through the heavens. The sun itself reflects brilliantly in the large reservoir surrounding the central fountain.

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