Fountain of Moses

The Mose Fountain - in Italian Fontana del Mose or Fontana dell'Acqua Felice - stands on Piazza San Bernardo on the Roman Quirinal. Pope Sixtus V commissioned it from 1585 to 1588 as the monumental terminal display of his new aqueduct, the Acqua Felice, named after his birth name Felice Peretti. Domenico Fontana's triumphal-arch architecture quotes the imperial Roman mostra of antiquity. The central niche holds a colossal Moses by Leonardo Sormani and Prospero Antichi (1588) whose stocky proportions drew open ridicule; Sormani is said to have died of grief over it. Side reliefs show water-themed biblical scenes featuring Aaron and Gideon. Tourists stop in front of the lions at the basin rim - the originals are now in the Vatican Museums and these are copies. The piazza is a short walk from the Repubblica metro station.