Fontanna Trytona, Nysa

Triton Fountain in Nysa - a fountain located at the intersection of the market square and Bracka and Celna Streets, modeled on Bernini's Roman Triton Fountain.

Built in 1700-1701, it is considered one of the city's most valuable architectural monuments. Carved by an unknown author in Slavic marble, it is a work of mature Baroque.

In its artistic form, the Nysa fountain resembles its Italian prototype, but is not an exact copy. The large pond is built on a square plan, with rounded corners, in a sarcophagus-like frame. The balustrade of the fountain surrounds a large shaft on which are carved four dolphins with open mouths, facing the four directions of the world. The upper part on the southern side bears the coat of arms of Nysa and the inscription SPQN 1701, the date of the fountain's construction.

The ancient Romans placed the inscription S.P.Q.R. - "Senatus Populusque Romanus" or "Senate and Roman People" - on the fronts of many buildings. The inhabitants of Nysa, referring to this tradition, engraved the inscription S.P.Q.N. - "Senatus Populusque Nissiensis" - "senate and people of Nysa".

The shaft is crowned with a shell-shaped bowl on which is placed the figure of the kneeling Triton, depicted as a half-man-half-fish, with his hands raised, playing the shell. It is a Baroque symbol of peace and harmony.

A smaller pond in the shape of an elongated octagon on a tapering base joins the main basin to form a passage in the form of two bas-relief dolphins and a brass gargoyle, also in the shape of a dolphin.

Nysa is a city of very rich and varied sacral architecture, for many centuries being the seat of the Wrocław bishops. However, it is this fountain that most justifies the motto once given to Nysa as "Silesian Rome".