Simbir suv tashuvchisi, Bronze fountain monument in central Ulyanovsk, Russia

Simbir suv tashuvchisi is a bronze fountain group on Ostrovsky Street by the Ulyanovskvodokanal building. A horse hitched to a four-wheeled cart carries a cylindrical tank marked "ПОЖ"; beside it a figure in a long coat and peaked cap raises a ladle. The group stands on a dark plinth above a pool lined with polished green stone panels, where a small bronze frog and ladle rest on a slab.

The fountain monument was installed on 30 June 2012, ordered by Ulyanovskvodokanal to mark the 150th anniversary of the Simbirsk water supply system. The idea came from Alexander Romanov, head of the Korch creative workshop, whose staff made the sculpture. Surviving photographs from 1920 served as sketches, and the water carrier's figure was forged from life, with blacksmiths of the forge yard posing.

The name refers to Simbirsk, as Ulyanovsk was called until 1924. Beside the group stands a plaque reproducing the 1910 city ordinance for people engaged in the water-carrying trade, all sixteen clauses of it. A local custom holds that stroking the bronze frog in the fountain basin grants a wish.

The fountain stands by the Ulyanovskvodokanal building on Ostrovskogo Street in the Leninsky district. A plaque beside the group reproduces the 1910 city ordinance on the water-carrier trade in 16 points. Look for the bronze frog and ladle on the slab in the pool; rubbing the frog is said to grant a wish.

The horse was forged so lifelike that staff at the local hippodrome remarked on its resemblance to a real animal. The figures were hammered from life, with smiths from the Korch workshop's forge yard posing for the water carrier.