Neptunbrunnen, Baroque fountain in Schönbrunn Palace Park, Vienna, Austria

The Neptunbrunnen is a fountain in the Great Parterre of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, built of brick clad in Kaiserstein and completed in 1780 to a design by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg. Its curved retaining wall holds an artificial rock grotto, on which the sea god Neptune stands in a shell chariot with his trident; the kneeling nymph Thetis pleads at his right, a nymph with a cornucopia sits at his left, and four Tritons with hippocamps surround the group. The white Sterzing marble figures were carved in Johann Christian Wilhelm Beyer's court workshop; the basin is over a hundred metres long and nearly fifty wide.

Excavation of the basin began in 1776, but in 1777 the plan was revised when it emerged that the required volume of water could not be supplied; basins already dug were filled in again and completion was delayed until 1780. Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg designed the brick structure clad in Kaiserstein, while court sculptor Johann Christian Wilhelm Beyer made the white Sterzing marble figures in his workshop.

The fountain shows Neptune wielding his trident to command the seas, while the nymph Thetis appeals for protection over her son Achilles's voyage to Troy. This mythological tale carved in stone speaks of oceanic power and divine intervention in human affairs.

The fountain is accessible from April through October, with water cascading down multiple levels. The best time to visit is during morning hours when fewer visitors are present and lighting conditions are more favorable for photography.

Behind the fountain, a brick-vaulted building is set into the slope, with walls up to one and a half metres thick and a connecting passage to the rear Gloriette pond. Water reached the basin by gravity along a channel from that pond. Because of the shortage, the fountain ran only on special occasions, and not at all after either world war; a permanent circuit now allows continuous operation.