Ross Fountain
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Ross Fountain is an ornate iron fountain from the mid-19th Century located at the west end of Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Figures depicted on the fountain include mermaids and four females depicting science, the arts, poetry and industry. A final female figure stands at the apex of the fountain.
After being cast in the Durenne Ironworks at Haute-Marne in the early 1860s, it was displayed at The Great Exhibition in London in 1862 where it was seen by philanthropist and gun-maker Daniel Ross, who bought it for the City of Edinburgh. Having been transported in 122 pieces, it arrived in Leith in 1869.
Great deliberation followed as to the most appropriate location for the statue, with it finally being installed in Prince's Street Gardens in 1872. There was notable controversy at the time surrounding the fountain - in particular, Edward Bannerman Ramsay, Dean of the nearby St John's Episcopal Church, described it as "grossly indecent and disgusting".
In 2001 a major refurbishment allowed water to flow again for the first time since 1996.
Ross Fountain is now a Grade B listed structure.
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