Free Fountain Pictures: 118 Photos
118 free fountain pictures from the BigFoto library: the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris and the Tinguely Fountain in Basel, park fountains in Vienna, the old stone fountains of Swiss towns with flowers on the column, simple troughs and spouts where you can still drink, fountains with statues and animals, playful jets for children, modern water features in steel and stone, and fountains frozen solid in winter.
Use them for articles about towns and travel, architecture and garden design, or as a calm background: the close-ups of running water and the round basins seen from above work well with text.
How to download: click a photo to see it large, then use Download. The originals are about 1200 × 800 pixels: right for blog posts, slides, social media, school projects and video call backgrounds.
Famous fountains
The Stravinsky Fountain by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle next to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tinguely’s fountain of moving machines in Basel, fountains in Vienna, Lugano, Zurich and Zagreb, and on the island of Mainau.
Town fountains in Switzerland
Almost every Swiss town and village has a fountain on its square, with a column, a figure and flowers, fed by spring water; many are still drinking fountains.
Stone troughs and drinking fountains
Simple troughs and basins of granite and sandstone, a cast-iron pump, rough boulders with a spout, and taps where walkers fill their bottles.
Wall fountains and spouts
Lion heads and masks on walls, small basins in niches, and close-ups of water running from a spout.
Sculpture fountains
Fountains with figures, animals and abstract shapes in bronze and stone, from a rearing horse to a dragon and a stone egg.
Jets, basins and modern water features
Round basins with a single jet, rows of jets in a square where children play, water walls, channels in the pavement and fountains lit at night.
Frozen fountains and more
Fountains covered in ice in winter, and more fountains in squares, parks and gardens.
More fountains
The Trevi Fountain and the fountains of Piazza Navona in Rome, Neptune in Florence, the Madonna Verona in Verona, tiled fountains in Tétouan and Neptune on Cerro Santa Lucía in Santiago.
About fountains
The original meaning of fountain (from the Latin ‘fontana’) was a natural spring or pool from which water flowed; for example the source of a river was called a ‘fountain’ or ‘fountainhead’. The use of the word ‘fountain’ for a man-made structure throwing water into the air in a controlled way was first recorded in English around 1500 AD, after the word had been in use for nature’s version for nearly 100 years.
Traditionally a fountain has a water source which fills a basin, trough or something similar and then drains away. Fountains can be very simple, very elaborate and sometimes very high. Some are computer controlled, with the fountain bursting and subsiding in rhythmic patterns. Some flow in sheets over a variety of surfaces, some cascade from one basin into another. Some are simply set in an ornamental pool or garden pond, whilst others are beautifully illuminated. And some have sculptures, including ones where many creators have the same idea as to where the water should spring from!
Humans have long found fountains fascinating. The ancient Greek for fountain was ‘pege’, and ‘pegomancy’ was a form of divination using fountains: the diviner studied the pattern of bubbles in the water of a sacred pool or spring, and claimed to be able to look into the past or foretell the future from them.
In ancient Rome fountains provided drinking water, and they were considered so important that each major fountain was connected to two different aqueducts so that if one failed there was still water available. No fountains from the Roman Empire survive: the many beautiful fountains now in Rome all date from the Renaissance period or later.
More free photos
- Free sculpture pictures
- Rome pictures
- Vienna pictures
- Paris pictures
- Free church pictures
- Free castle pictures
- Free water pictures
Questions about these fountain photos
Can I use these fountain pictures for free?
Yes, for personal and commercial projects. All we ask is a link back to BigFoto.com; the box at the top of the page has a credit link you can copy.
Can you drink from the fountains in Swiss towns?
Most of them, yes: town fountains in Switzerland are usually fed with drinking water. A sign saying “Kein Trinkwasser” or “eau non potable” marks the ones you should not drink from.