The
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain is a memorial to
Diana, Princess of WalesDiana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes William and Harry, are second and third in line to the thrones of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms.A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana...
. It was designed to express Diana's spirit and love of children. It is located in the southwest corner of
Hyde ParkHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, just south of the
Serpentine LakeThe Serpentine is a 28-acre recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, strictly the name refers only to the eastern half of the lake...
and east of the
Serpentine GalleryThe Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art and is one of London's best-loved galleries for this reason...
. Its cornerstone was laid in September 2003 and it was officially opened on 6 July 2004 by
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
. Also present were Diana's younger brother
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl SpencerCharles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, DL is the second and only surviving son of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and the Honourable Frances Roche , daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy...
, her ex-husband
Prince CharlesCharles, Prince of Wales is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1952, he has been heir apparent to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. After earning a bachelor of arts from Trinity College, Cambridge, Charles served a tour of duty with Royal Navy...
, and her sons
WilliamPrince William of Wales , KG, is the elder son of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and Harry.
The fountain was designed by
Kathryn GustafsonKathryn Gustafson is an American landscape architect and artist. Her work includes the Gardens of the Imagination in Terrasson, France; a city square in Evry France; and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London. She has won many awards and prizes including the...
, an American landscape artist, and cost £3.6 million.
The
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain is a memorial to
Diana, Princess of WalesDiana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes William and Harry, are second and third in line to the thrones of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms.A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana...
. It was designed to express Diana's spirit and love of children. It is located in the southwest corner of
Hyde ParkHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, just south of the
Serpentine LakeThe Serpentine is a 28-acre recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, strictly the name refers only to the eastern half of the lake...
and east of the
Serpentine GalleryThe Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art and is one of London's best-loved galleries for this reason...
. Its cornerstone was laid in September 2003 and it was officially opened on 6 July 2004 by
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
. Also present were Diana's younger brother
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl SpencerCharles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, DL is the second and only surviving son of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and the Honourable Frances Roche , daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy...
, her ex-husband
Prince CharlesCharles, Prince of Wales is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1952, he has been heir apparent to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. After earning a bachelor of arts from Trinity College, Cambridge, Charles served a tour of duty with Royal Navy...
, and her sons
WilliamPrince William of Wales , KG, is the elder son of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and Harry.
Design
The fountain was designed by
Kathryn GustafsonKathryn Gustafson is an American landscape architect and artist. Her work includes the Gardens of the Imagination in Terrasson, France; a city square in Evry France; and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London. She has won many awards and prizes including the...
, an American landscape artist, and cost £3.6 million. Ms. Gustafson said she had wanted the fountain, which was built to the south of the Serpentine, to be accessible and to reflect Diana's "inclusive" personality. Ms. Gustafson told the BBC "Above all I hope that it provides a fitting memorial for the princess and does credit to the amazing person that she was."
Construction
The 545 individual pieces of
CornishCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. Granites can be pink to dark gray or even black, depending on their...
were cut using sophisticated computer-guided cutting machines by S. McConnell & Sons in
KilkeelKilkeel is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the main fishing port on the Down coast, and its harbour houses one of the largest fishing fleets in Ireland. It had a population of 6,338 people in the 2001 Census...
,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
Although described as an oval stone
fountainA fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
, it has the form of a large, oval stream bed about 50 by 80 m (165 by 260 feet) that surrounds, and is surrounded by, a lush grassy field. The granite streambed is from 3 to 6 m (10 to 20 feet) wide and quite shallow and is laid out on a gently sloping portion of the park, so that water pumped to the top of the oval flows down either side. One side of the stream bed descends fairly smoothly to the downhill end of the oval with gentle ripples. The other side consists of a variety of steps, rills, curves, and other shapes so that the water plays in interesting ways as it flows to the tranquil pool at the bottom. The two sides were intended to show the two sides of Diana's life, both happy times and turmoil.
Controversy
Because Diana was a contemporary and accessible princess, the fountain's goal was to allow people access to the structure and to the water for quiet wading and contemplation. However, shortly after its opening and after three hospitalisations caused by people slipping in the water, the fountain was closed. It reopened in August 2004, surrounded by a new fence, and people are now prevented from walking or running in the water by six wardens.
However, even though the fountain was only open for a part of the 2004 season, and the weather was not particularly wet, the grass adjacent to part of the fountain was almost obliterated, and it appeared that it would turn to a quagmire if heavy rain ever fell during the main visiting season. Therefore in December 2004, another alteration project was started. This involved work on the drainage, together with laying new hard surfaces on some of the most frequently walked areas of the site and the planting of a special hard wearing rye grass mix in others.
Panorama
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See also
- Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground is a memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales in Kensington Gardens, London.It was erected after her death at a cost of £1.7 million on the site of the existing Peter Pan children's playground which had been founded in the time of JM Barrie's but it is...
- Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk is a long circular walking trail in London, England, dedicated to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales. It goes between Kensington Gardens, Green Park, Hyde Park and St James's Park in a figure-eight pattern, passing five sites that are associated with...
External links