Fuente de la India, Marble fountain at Paseo de Martí, Cuba.
Fuente de la India is a white Carrara marble group about 3 m tall, set on a rectangular pedestal at the south end of Paseo del Prado. The seated woman wears a feathered crown, a quiver of arrows at her left shoulder, a cloth over her lap; her right hand rests on an oval shield with Havana's coat of arms, her left holds a cornucopia of Cuban fruits topped with a pineapple. Four dolphins at the pedestal corners pour water over large shells forming the base.
Italian sculptor Giuseppe Gaggini created this monument in 1837 for the Count of Villanueva during Cuba's Spanish colonial period. It emerged from a time of active urban development and improvement in the city.
The figure of an indigenous woman holding Havana's coat of arms and a cornucopia of Cuban fruits speaks to how the city represents the meeting of native and colonial worlds. Visitors today can read this symbolism directly in the carved details and what the woman holds.
The fountain sits on a traffic island in front of Hotel Saratoga near major landmarks like Capitolio Nacional and Plaza de la Catedral. It is best visited early in the morning or late afternoon when the surrounding area is quieter and easier to appreciate.
Some historians hold that the Fuente de la India was the first image of the city captured in a photograph, taken by the French photographer Antonio Rezzonico in the fourth decade of the 19th century. The claim rests on a single attribution, so the date remains debated among researchers.
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