.Blumie

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The Obelisk Fountain is sited at the park of Schoenbrunn Castle. Like the other features in the park this fountain was also designed by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg and according to the inscription on the socle of the obelisk was erected in 1777. The statuary work was carried out by Benedikt Henrici partly following designs by Wilhelm Beyer. The fountain consists of a pool contained against the slope behind it by a retaining wall topped by a balustrade with vases. Projecting forward into basin from the centre of the back wall is a mountain grotto peopled with river gods and crowned by an obelisk. The water flows out of the mouth of a central mask and the vases held by the river gods via a succession of three basins into the main pool. The obelisk, borne on the backs of four turtles as the symbol of stability, is covered in hieroglyphs purporting to tell the history of the Habsburg dynasty. However, these are spurious, as hieroglyphs were not in fact deciphered until 1822. Between the mountain grotto and the retaining wall is a double flight of steps leading to a platform from where a small cave reveals a view of the avenue. The Obelisk Fountain at Schoenbrunn was doubtless intended to express the Habsburg claim to absolute and enduring dominion.