Neptune’s Fountain stands amid the monumental avenues around the Prado, its sea god raised above a chariot drawn by hippocamps. The sculpture was once planned in relation to Cibeles; its later relocation reshaped the pair into separate landmarks across the city center.
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Neptune’s chariot is pulled not by ordinary horses but by hippocamps, mythical creatures that join horse and sea. That detail fits the god of the sea, yet the fountain’s urban story is just as revealing.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- Neptune’s chariot is drawn by hippocamps.
- Ventura Rodríguez designed the fountain as part of an eighteenth-century urban project.
- The fountain was originally positioned facing Cibeles before both were moved in the nineteenth century.
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