Chicago’s Crown Fountain opened in Millennium Park in 2004. The fountain features a black granite reflecting pool, two glass brick towers, and the digital projections of about 1,000 different Chicagoans’ faces. Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, the art installation rotates the images of volunteer models who appear to be propelling the water from their mouths on the surface of the towers.

Just outside the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Stravinsky Fountain was inspired by the art of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. The fountains feature 16 colorful sculptures spread throughout the basin, representing concepts such as love and death, wartime, wildlife, and the musical key of G. When the fountain was built in 1983, it was the first public fountain in Paris opened since 1937’s Palais de Chaillot.

Found in Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands, the Efteling: World of Wonders theme park is one of the world’s oldest theme parks still in existence, with roots dating back to 1935. The park draws over 9 million visitors per year, many of whom catch the Aquanura Fountains shows. Over 200 fountains and 900 lights are used in the park’s daily water shows.

Also known as the Jeddah Fountain, King Fahd’s Fountain uses the surrounding Red Sea’s saltwater as its source. The fountain features over 500 spotlights to illuminate its shooting water at night, which reaches heights of 1,020 feet — taller than the Eiffel Tower. Construction was completed on King Fahd’s Fountain in 1985.

Representing each of the Soviet Union’s 16 Republics, a series of golden statues of young girls encircle Moscow’s Friendship of People Fountain. Each sculpture was modeled on a real person from each region. The fountain was built in 1954 by architect K.T. Topuridze as one of the central features of the All-Russian Exhibition Center.

The massive Main Fountain Garden at Pennsylvania’s Longwood Gardens was the vision of Pierre S. du Pont, the entrepreneur and philanthropist who was president of both DuPont Motors and General Motors. The Main Fountain Garden’s original fountains were installed in 1931, and the current fountains propel 10,000 gallons of water per minute, syncing up movement to music and colored lights.

At Japan’s Kanazawa Station, a fountain uses a series of water jets to create an image of the current time via a “digital” clock face. The jets blast white water in front of a black background to reveal the time. In addition to the time, the Kanazawa Station Fountain Clock also spells out messages in both Japanese and English at various times throughout the day.

Measuring 3,740 feet long, the Banpo Grand Bridge Fountain above the Han River in Seoul, South Korea, is the longest bridge fountain in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Built in 2008, the fountain features 380 nozzles that propel 60 tons of water into the river every minute. There are also 10,000 LED lights affixed to each side of the bridge to illuminate the water.

Switzerland’s Lake Geneva features the impressive Jet d’Eau, which blasts a massive stream of water into the air throughout the day. (It is only shut off at night and in freezing temperatures) To reach its peak height of 460 feet, the water flows from the jet at about 125 mph. At any given time, about seven tons of water are airborne at Jet d’Eau.

Fed by water from the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct, constructed during the Roman Empire in 19 BCE, the Trevi Fountain is one of the oldest water sources in Rome. Its most recent renovation came courtesy of Fendi, the Italian fashion brand that put $2.2 million towards modernizing one of Rome’s most photographed monuments.

Louis XIV was also known as the Sun King, and the arts-loving monarch knew how to put on a show. The first of the famous “Fountain Shows” at Versailles palace took place on April 27, 1666, with each of the fountains opening as Louis passed them and signaled with a whistle. By the mid-1800s, the shows would draw as many 60,000 spectators at a time and still continue to this day.

Located near Innsbruck, Austria, Crystal Worlds is a museum that showcases Swarovski’s famous crystal glass. The museum’s striking central fountain has an interior that is, fittingly, covered by Swarovski glass, and the exterior features a stone face with Swarovski glass eyes. The museum claims the combination of glass and water makes this the world’s largest kaleidoscope. The fountain was designed in 1995 by artist André Heller.

Barcelona hosted its second World’s Fair in 1929, and the Magic Fountain of Montjuic was one of the central features of the exposition. Designed by architect Carles Buigas and requiring 3,000 workers about a year to construct, the fountain dances to music with changing colors. The shows at the Magic Fountain currently run several times per week, and spectators can get up close to the street-level structure and feel its powerful spray.

On Burj Khalifa Lake in front of the world’s tallest building, the 900-foot-long Dubai Fountain propels water up to 500 feet in the air in sync with music ranging from classical to Arabic to contemporary world music. Designed by the same firm that created the famed fountains of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the Dubai Fountain covers an area as large as two football fields.

Overlooking the central fountain at Midtown Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center — home of the famous annual Christmas tree — is a sculpture of Prometheus, the Greek mythological figure who stole fire from the Olympian gods to pass it along to humanity. Prometheus Fountain was built in 1934 by architect Paul Manship, and the 18-foot, eight-ton bronze statue sits just above the fountain.

Dubai is no stranger to record-breaking construction projects, from the Burj Khalifa (the tallest skyscraper in the world) to the Dubai Mall (the world’s second-largest shopping center. On that list is the Palm Fountain. Located at the Pointe shopping center on Palm Jumeirah island, the fountain encompasses nearly 79,000 square feet and features over 3,000 LED lights used in its water show.

Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the World War II Memorial honors the 16 million U.S. service members who fought during the war. The centerpiece of the memorial is a fountain surrounded by 56 pillars, representing the 48 states at the time of the war and eight U.S. territories. Designed by American architect Friedrich St. Florian, the memorial opened in 2004.

Located in Grant Park, the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain is a crown jewel along Chicago’s lakefront. One of the largest fountains in the world, the tiered rococo-style confection was inspired by the Latona Basin at Versailles. It is surrounded by four sculptures of sea horses meant to represent the four states that border nearby Lake Michigan: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.

In the center of the Las Vegas Strip, the Bellagio Hotel and Casino features an eight-acre human-made lake with more than a thousand fountains. Every 15 minutes during the day (and every 30 minutes throughout the night), the lake is home to a stunning water show set to music, with the fountains shooting water up to 460 feet into the desert sky.

In a city known for beautiful fountains, the Trevi Fountain manages to stand out. Architect Nicolo Salvi designed the baroque masterpiece, which was completed in 1762 and features statues of Carrara marble, centered by a sculpture of the Greek god Oceanus. Following a tradition made famous in the 1954 film "Three Coins in the Fountain," romantics now toss more than a million euros worth of coins into the sparkling waters each year.