Grifo mágico — El Puerto de Santa María
Floating-tap fountain · photographed in 2006 · El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain
Photo: Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), taken 25 July 2006; the same photo as in the Street Art Utopia post. Full photograph shown.
A tap seems to hang in mid-air above a fountain in El Puerto de Santa María, near Cádiz, pouring an endless stream of water. The trick: a pipe hidden inside the falling water holds the tap up and carries the water to its spout. Source Source Source Source Checked Spanish press places the “grifo mágico” inside the Aqualand Bahía de Cádiz water park and credits the French sculptor Philippe Thill (1937–2010); we could not confirm either at a primary source. Source Source Source Reported
Reported Jan 2025 — La Vanguardia described the tap at Aqualand in the present tense on 16 January 2025, illustrated with the 2006 photo above. La Sexta’s story of 3 September 2026 explains the trick but does not say where the tap stands now, so we do not count it as a sighting. That 25 July 2006 photo is the newest dated photograph we found; Aqualand’s own website does not mention the tap. Source Source Source Source Reported
💡 5 things to know
- The pipe does the liftingThe jet of water looks as if it is all that holds the tap up, but a pipe hidden inside it supports the tap and carries water from the basin to the spout. Source Source Source Source Checked
- Inside a water parkDiario de Cádiz (2023), La Vanguardia (2025) and the Catalan blog La Bellesa (2015) all place the tap inside Aqualand Bahía de Cádiz, the water park of El Puerto de Santa María. Source Source Source Reported
- Credited to a French sculptorThe Commons photo page, Diario de Cádiz and La Vanguardia name Philippe Thill. Thill’s own website shows a floating tap, “Le Robinet – Fontaine insolite”, bought by the Yvelines council in France, but does not mention a tap in Spain. Source Source Source Source Reported
- Not the only oneA study by the Cádiz water company Aguas de Cádiz speaks of several examples of the “Grifo Mágico” installed in Spanish towns, El Puerto de Santa María among them. Source Reported
- One photo, many storiesThe 2006 Wikimedia Commons photo illustrates La Vanguardia’s 2025 story and La Sexta’s 2026 story about the tap. Source Source Source Checked
📍 Where it is
Reported to be inside Aqualand Bahía de Cádiz, the water park of El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain. When we checked on 13 November 2026, the park’s website said it was closed for the season until 2027. Source Source Source Reported
Opens a map search for the water park; the sources give no exact spot for the tap, and we have not checked Street View.
🗓️ Sightings
- 200625 Jul
Photo by Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada
- 201516 Aug
La Bellesa: at Aqualand
- 202328 Jul
Diario de Cádiz: at Aqualand
- 202516 Jan
La Vanguardia: at Aqualand
- 20263 Sep
La Sexta explains the hidden pipe
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
El grifo mágico que podrás encontrar en uno de los lugares más refrescantes de Cádiz
“Este grifo mágico podrás encontrarlo en Aqualand Bahía de Cádiz, el parque acuático de El Puerto de Santa María”
English: “You can find this magic tap at Aqualand Bahía de Cádiz, the water park of El Puerto de Santa María.”
Un parque acuático de El Puerto de Santa María esconde la imposible escultura de un grifo flotante
“Se trata del denominado Grifo Mágico: un tubo metálico expulsando agua que, aparentemente, flota en el aire.”
English: “It is the so-called Magic Tap: a metal tube pouring out water that apparently floats in the air.”
✅ The facts
- Artist
- Philippe Thill, according to the Commons photo page and Spanish press; not confirmed by the artist’s own records Source Source Source Reported
- Year
- 2006, according to La Vanguardia and Diario de Cádiz; the earliest dated photo was taken on 25 July 2006 Source Source Source Reported
- How it works
- A pipe hidden inside the falling water holds the tap and feeds the spout Source Source Source Source Checked
- Status
- Described in the present tense in 2023–2026 press; no dated photo after 2006 found Source Source Source Unconfirmed
🔗 Related
- Giant Everyday Objects Placed in Parks, Fields and Lakes (8 Photos) — Street Art Utopia
- All Artwork Files
All sources & image credits
- Wikimedia Commons: Grifo mágico, photo by Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada, 25 July 2006, CC BY-SA 3.0
- La Bellesa: L’aixeta màgica de Philippe Thill (16 August 2015, in Catalan)
- Diario de Cádiz: El grifo mágico… (28 July 2023, in Spanish)
- La Vanguardia: Un parque acuático de El Puerto de Santa María esconde la imposible escultura de un grifo flotante (16 January 2025, in Spanish)
- La Sexta: 5 lugares en los que el agua hace cosas que parecen increíbles (3 September 2026, in Spanish)
- Aguas de Cádiz: study of the Puerta de Tierra fountain (PDF, in Spanish)
- Philippe Thill: monumental works (artist’s website, in French)
- Aqualand Bahía de Cádiz (park website, checked 13 November 2026)
- Hero image: Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (WAU media #12867); the share image is a 16:9 version of it (WAU media #12868).
Last checked: 13 November 2026 · How we verify art