Saint-Michel Fountain

The beautiful Saint-Michel fountain located in Paris’ Latin Quarter is the meeting point for many tourists and Parisians. Has its design ever reminded you of another Paris monument?

If you thought of the Arc du Carousel in the Louvre, you were absolutely right!

Napoleon III initially wanted to build and ornate a fountain with a statue of his uncle Napoleon I. So architect Gabriel Davioud got to work with Napoleon’s Arc du Carousel in mind. Hence the similarities: polychromy, four pink marble Corinthian columns, each surmounted by a statue, and the niche in the shape of an arch.

After several projects, the idea evolved into the Saint-Michel fountain as the endpoint of the nearby Saint-Michel bridge which had been rebuilt the year before by Napoleon III.

The bridge, the fountain, the boulevard... You might wonder why is this name all over that neighborhood? It is simply a reminder of the former Saint Michel chapel located there until its destruction in 1784. Some of the kings of France such as Philippe Auguste had been baptized in that chapel.