The fountain obelisk of Madrid Río

Once known as the Obelisco de la Castellana, this towering pillar now stands along the edge of Madrid's Parque Madrid Río. Works began in 1833 under the regency of María Cristina de Borbón, and the fountain was completed in 1838. It was a tribute to the birth of a princess, though the history of its location is complex. This grand neoclassical architectural marvel was initially considered for the end of the paseo del Cisne, but it was eventually placed in a plaza that became the glorieta de Emilio Castelar. The completed fountain, adorned with the obelisk, two bronze sphinxes, and a large basin, overlooked the newly opened Paseo de la Castellana.

In 1868, the fountain's layout changed when the basin was replaced by a garden space and the sphinxes were moved to the Retiro. The fountain was dismantled in 1906 to make way for the Monument to Emilio Castelar, and later moved in 1914 to the plaza de Manuel Becerra with its bronze sphinxes and a circular basin. It remained there until 1969, when it was moved to the newly created Parque de la Arganzuela along the Manzanares river. The poor quality of the muddy ground required the installation of piles to support the obelisk, which became the centerpiece of a decorative fountain with a large elliptical pond.

Between 1992 and 1995, the basin was emptied and the jets were stopped for impermeabilization. The underground works of the M-30 between 2004 and 2007 caused the final remodeling of the fountain, which resulted in the disappearance of the basin and the jets. With the reopening of the park in 2011 as part of Madrid Río, the monument was placed next to a promenade with the pipes of its sphinxes blinded.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons