“Where is the ugliest fountain in the world? In Vienna, in Austria!”. Inaugurated at the end of October, the new fountain, which has also been criticized for its exorbitant cost, continues to make waves, sparking jokes and anger on social media, France-Presse and Agerpres reported.

“Shame!”, “What a horror!”, “Is this a joke?” – wrote Austrian netizens after looking at the concrete monument consisting of 33 characters, which seem to have been created by kindergarten children and are located around a stream of water.

The fountain was commissioned by the Social Democratic municipality to mark the 150th anniversary of the city’s supply of spring water, an exceptional system that Vienna is proud of.

The work was opened to great fanfare in the troubled neighborhood on October 24 by Mayor Michael Ludwig, who says it’s “interesting”, along with Austrian environmentalist President Alexander Van der Bellen.

A Viennese collective called Gelitin won a design competition with a concept that was meant to “represent society’s responsibility towards water, the protection of which is becoming more and more important” in the context of episodes of severe drought, according to climate advisor Jürgen Chernogorski. .

But this modern fountain will not be to everyone’s taste. On the X social network, users highlight the contrast in style, comparing it to the neoclassical fountain, prized for its grandeur and located in front of the parliament in this UNESCO-listed city.

The message, written in English on the Culture Critic account, lamenting that “that’s all it took for €1.8 million taken from taxpayers” has been viewed more than 7.5 million times in the country of 9 million people.

In addition to the ongoing debate about the place of modern art in public space, the cost of the monument is an element that is difficult for Viennese to accept. “Luxury” and “the cost of living is mega-expensive,” Herbert Kickl, the leader of the far-right FPO party, which is leading the polls ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections, wrote on Facebook.

When contacted by AFP, neither the municipality of Vienna nor the four sculptors who make up the Gelitin collective, known for its provocative works, have yet reacted to the emergence of this controversy.