Fountain of the Fallen Angel in Buen Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain. Photo by Ulleskelf via Flickr [Creative Commons].These gargoyles may not be on a building, but they are certainly serving their proper purpose. Located on the base of the Fountain of the Fallen Angel (Fuente del Ángel Caído) in Madrid’s Buen Retiro Park, these eight devil figures spit water out of their mouths and the mouths of their reptilian pets. The statue, designed and constructed between 1877 and 1885 and inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost, was designed by Ricardo Bellver. The devil-encrusted base was designed by Francisco Jareño.
Those spitting gargoyles remind me a bit of the bronze dragons and eagles guarding a fountain in a Platz near the Hauptbahnhof in Innsbruck!