The "Water of Joseph II" is located in a small rural settlement called Vela Učka, on the western slopes of Učka Nature Park.
The style and the dimensions of the facility create the impression of a fountain, which is how it is mostly known by the local people. In the folk tradition it was also called "Napoleon's water".
The old "pipe", with its beauty and patina of times gone by, has always attracted the attention of Učka's inhabitants and the travellers who have been stopping by for centuries to refresh themselves from its fresh spring water.
Today, due to its monumentality and cultural features, it is considered a cultural heritage of special importance.
Based on the style of the building, it is presumed that the fountain was built during the reign of the Habsburg Monarchy, at the time when the road over Učka was constructed. Most of the large number of people that inhabited Učka at that time were involved in cattle breeding and agriculture and therefore this facility was used by them as a place to rest and water their animals. This fact was confirmed by an inscription revealed during the monument's restoration in which the name of Emperor Joseph II of Lorraine appears, the sovereign of the Monarchy from 1780 to 1790.
The inscription reads:
....sule Viator .... traveller!
ad dignitatem in honour of
Divi Caesaris Josephi II the divine Emperor Joseph II
Imperatoris sole
uninsque...... emperor
RESTORATION AND PROTECTION
The fountain was renovated to mark the occasion of International Year of Freshwater in 2003 as part of the cultural heritage protection programme run by the Učka Nature Park Public Institution in collaboration with the relevant administrative department for the protection of cultural heritage at the Conservatory Department in Rijeka and the sculptor Zvonimir Kamenar.