Here’s something we’d like to see a lot more of: It’s an “open book fountain” in Hungary that looks like a giant tome having its liquid pages read by some invisible, voracious reader. And while there isn’t much information available about the book fountain online (at least here in the U.S.), not a whole lot of words are needed to appreciate its implicit mission to keep the beauty of physical books present in people’s minds.
This particular book fountain, which is located in Egyetem Square in Budapest, was built in 2012 and sits in front of the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences. But an engineer and scientist on twitter, who has the handle, Massimo, recently posted a new GIF of the open book fountain and it’s definitely one of the coolest book fountains around.
“How many book fountains could there possibly be all around Earth at this very moment?” some people may be asking themselves at this juncture. It turns out, a lot more than they’d think. (Or at least more than we would.)
In Budapest there’s a fountain that looks like a book: every few seconds a sheet of water blasts forth from the book’s spine, arcing from one side to the other, creating the illusion that an invisible force is turning the pages of this marble tome [gif: https://t.co/FToSO30KQq] pic.twitter.com/a0oUQrKXYt
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 2, 2019
There are, in fact, at least seven book fountains across four different countries, including the U.S., China, Turkey, and Hungary, and we know that because there’s a handy list of them available in this Travelogue of An Armchair Traveller blog post. Oh, and by the way — for anybody who’s wondering, this open book fountain in Hungary was definitely the inspiration for a similar one in Istanbul. That’s probably not all that relevant to enjoying this clip, but the open book fountain archive seemed to think that was important so we’re noting it, dang it!
What do you think about this open book fountain in Hungary? Have you ever seen a cooler book-themed statue or fountain during your travels throughout the world? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Images: H Kevin
