The German Fountain—located in the heart of Santiago, Chile—was a gift from the German colony to the new Chilean republic in 1912, in gratitude for the transfer of land in the Mapuche Walmapu territory. In the heat of January 2004, the fountain becomes a symbolic space. Although bathing is prohibited, families from the city’s marginalized outskirts visit it and transform it into a public swimming pool, thus redefining its political and social character.