Fontanilla

La Fontanilla is the least dramatic, but perhaps the most original and authentic monument among the so-called Lugares colombinos, the places in Huelva closely associated with Columbus's first voyage.

[4] There were two places where water was drawn in Palos: the fountain of Villafrías,[5] at the exit of the estuary, facing the Isla de Saltés, and the Fontanilla, outside of the historic center of the city, but immediately to its east.

An estuary of the Río Tinto came practically to its base, with a pier that provided the most direct access to the town from the sea.

On the way from the Puerta de los Novios[6] of the Church of Saint George the Martyr (Iglesia de San Jorge Mártir), walking toward the nearby site of the former pier,[7] one finds the Fontanilla, the former public fountain constructed on a base that dates back to Roman times, and protected by a tetrapylum, a sort of gazebo, constructed of stone in the 13th century in the Mudéjar style, with a quadrangular base, with the protective roof having a hemispheric vaulted exterior and a pyramidal interior.

The gargoyle at the exit is the only wooden element, and one can view the Fontanilla either from the road into Palos from Moguer, or from a viewpoint on the heights of the hill of the settled part of town, looking toward its surrounding gardens.