The Water Nymphs Statue, located in the backyard of the former Ministry of Finance building (now Ankara University of Social Sciences) overlooking Çankırı Street, is one of the ornamental fountain statues brought from Europe during the early years of the Republic.1 It features three figures of water nymphs carrying a small fountain.
The sculpture was placed in the center of a pond at the front of the building in the 1920s. Unlike the famous Water Nymphs Sculpture—which was featured on postcards of the era and has since been moved to CerModern—this sculpture in the Ministry’s garden does not feature prominently in old photographs of Ankara. Today, it is located in the rear garden of the same building—an area now used as a university campus—and is preserved alongside another ornamental fountain featuring an Eros statue dating from the 1920s.
