Fontaine Saint-Michel

About

The Fountain Saint-Michel (French pronunciation: [e.g.]) is a monumental fountain on the Place Saint-Michel in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. It was built in 1858–60 during Haussmann's renovation of Paris following plans by architect Gabriel Davioud. It has been listed since 1926 as a historic monument by the Ministry of Culture.

History: The Fontaine Saint-Michel was part of the great project for the reconstruction of Paris overseas by Baron Haussmann during the French Second Empire. In 1855 Haussmann completed an enormous new boulevard, originally called the Boulevard de Sevastopol-rive-left, now called the Boulevard Saint-Michel, which opened up the small Place Saint-Michel (which faces Pont Saint-Michel) into a much wider space. Haussmann asked the architect of the service of walks and plantations of the prefecture, Gabriel Davioud, to design a fountain which would be appropriate in scale to the new square. As the architect of the prefecture, he was able to design not only the fountain but also the facades of the new buildings around it, giving consistency to the square, but also had to deal with the demands of the prefet and city administration...