Signs of Zodiac - Prometheus Fountain - New York, NY, USA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 40° 45.522 W 073° 58.713
18T E 586218 N 4512472
The iconic Prometheus Fountain overlooks the skating rink in the heart of Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. A ring with zodiac signs encircles the figure of Prometheus.
Waymark Code: WMTEW7
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 11/13/2016
Views: 16
Rockefeller Center is a complex of nineteen buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets and 5th and 6th Avenues. Construction Construction of the original 14 Art Deco style buildings began on May 17, 1930 and was completed in 1939. In the center of the complex is the skating rink with the monumental gilded bronze Art Deco statue of Prometheus overlooking the skaters. The statue is set in the middle of a fountain and in front red granite wall.
The sculpture by Paul Manship was personally commissioned from the artist by John D. Rockefeller to be the centerpiece of the magnificent Art Deco plaza. It was dedicated on January 9, 1934. It depicts the Greek mythological Titan, Prometheus, in mid-flight bringing fire from heaven to earth. Heaven is represented by a ring that surround Prometheus featuring the relief symbols of the zodiac.
An inscription in gold lettering on the red granite wall is taken from Aeschylus:
PROMETHEUS, TEACHER IN EVERY ART, BROUGHT THE FIRE
THAT HATH PROVED TO MORTALS A MEANS TO MIGHTY ENDS