The winning entry of the competition to design a fountain on Nowy Targ square, which is illustrated above, was chosen by the contest's organisers earlier today. The contemporary design was the brainchild of Matylda Nowak and will cost around 300,000zl to build.
The competition itself was launched given the drab look of the newly designed Nowy Targ square, which seriously needs something to brighten it up. Nevertheless, some believe that the winning design's lack of colour will do little to attract more people to a place that's often seen as being cold and lifeless. Among some of the other arguably more attractive 44 entries were designs incorporating green areas and one echoing back to the Neptune fountain, which was a focal point in the city pre WW2.
Explaining the thought behind her design, winning entrant Matylda Novak told Gazeta Wroclawska she wanted a water feature consistent with Nowy Targ's contemporary look.
Pl.Nowy Targ is of course the place were the famous Neptune statue was built in 1732. The fountain's construction was at first controversial as some locals wrongly perceived it to be a statue of the devil rather than the Roman god of the sea. That resulted in many cases of vandalism, and eventually a fence had to be built to stop people destroying the fountain. As time wore on however, the then German population of Wrocław grew fond of the water feature, which became the subject of many Breslau postcards.
Despite the history attached to the original fountain, which was destroyed in WW2, it was decided that a new water feature would better fit Nowy Targ's contemporary design.
Was it a good choice? Decide for yourself by having a look at some of the other designs below (Photos by Jarek Ratajczak):