Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member vraatja
N 48° 51.195 E 002° 20.625
31U E 451859 N 5411350
The famous Paris landmark at the heart of Quartier Latin, on the Place St-Michel.
Waymark Code: WM8BQ9
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 03/08/2010
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member saopaulo1
Views: 72

[FR]
La fontaine Saint-Michel fait partie elle aussi du plan d'aération de la ville prévu par Haussmann sous Napoléon III. Le percement du boulevard Saint-Michel dans l'axe de la Sainte-Chapelle entraînait la création d'une place au débouché du pont Saint-Michel, Haussmann a ordonné la mise en place de cette fontaine afin de combler l'angle entre la boulevard Saint-Michel et la place Saint-André-des-Arts et donner un débouché visuel à la perspective du boulevard du Palais.
La première idée était d'ériger une énorme statue de Napoléon Ier mais elle fut abandonnée, et devant l'insistance de la commission municipale — qui voulait rappeler le souvenir de la vieille chapelle Saint-Michel en la Cité —, ce fut finalement la lutte du Bien contre le Mal qui fut retenue comme programme : l'archange Michel terrassant le Diable dans un arc de triomphe entouré de chimères ailées.
Elle a été conçue par l'architecte Gabriel Davioud, aidé de Flament, Simonet et Halo. Elle est haute de 26 mètres et large de 15 mètres. La statue de Saint Michel terrassant le Diable, dans la niche centrale, est de Francisque Duret. Les deux dragons crachant de l'eau en contrebas sont dus à Henri-Alfred Jacquemart. Le portique à colonnes est décoré de quatre statues de bronze représentant les vertus cardinales de La Prudence, de Jean-Auguste Barre, La Force, de Eugène Guillaume, La Justice, de Louis Valentin Robert et La Tempérance, de Charles Gumery.
Cette fontaine, dont le chantier a commencé en juin 1858 fut inaugurée le 15 août 1860. Elle est inscrite monument historique par arrêté du 16 mars 1926.

[EN]
The fontaine Saint-Michel was part of the great project for the reconstruction of Paris overseen by Baron Haussmann during the French Second Empire. In 1855 Haussmann completed an enormous new boulevard, originally called boulevard de Sébastopol-rive-gauche, now called Boulevard Saint-Michel, which opened up the small place Pont-Saint-Michel into a much larger space. Haussmann asked the architect of the service of promenades 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 coherence to the square, but he also had to deal with the demands of the prefet and city administration, which was paying for the project.
Davioud's original project was for a fountain dedicated to peace, located in the center of the square. The prefect authorities rejected this idea and asked him instead to build a fountain to hide the end wall of the building at the corner of boulevard Saint-Michel and Saint-André des Arts. This forced Davioud to adapt his plan to the proportions of that building.
The next design made by Davioud in 1856 provided the architectural structure of the fountain; a facade divided into four horizontal levels, similar to a triumphal arch, with four Corinthian columns on high socles framing the central niche. The main cornice is surmounted by a French Renaissance design feature, an inscribed tablet in a grand architectural framing. As the revised site was just off the axis of the bridge, Davioud created a visual compromise in a series of shallow bowed basins through which the water issuing from the rock under the supine body of Saint Michael's adversary spills. The water ends in a basin sunk into street level, with a curving front edge that softens the line of the monuments architectural base.
In the 1856 plan, Davioud placed a feminine statue of Peace into the central niche. The 1858 plan called for replacing Peace with a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte. This provoked furious opposition from the opponents of Louis-Napoleon, so later in 1858 Davioud proposed that the central figure be the Archangel Michael wrestling with the devil. This was agreed, construction began in June 1858, and the statue was inaugurated on August 15, 1860.

The Decoration of the Fountain

Davioud was himself a trained neoclassical sculptor from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the large scale (26 meters by 15 meters) and the elaborate iconography he created for the fountain required the work of nine different sculptors. It features:
- Two winged dragons on either side of the fountain by Henri Alfred Jacquemart.
- The figure of Saint Michael and the devil by Francisque-Joseph Duret
- The rock under Saint Michael by Félix Saupin
- Bas-reliefs and ornamental foliage by Noémie Constant
Four statues representing the cardinal virtues:
- Statue of Prudence, holding a serpent and a mirror, by Jean-Auguste Barre
- Statue of Power, with a lion skin and club, by Claude-Jean Guillaume
- Statue of Justice, with a scale and sword, by Louis-Valentin Robert
- Statue of Temperance, by Charles-Alphonse Guméry
- Statues of Power and Moderation, holding the coat of arms of Paris, by Auguste-Hyacinthe Debay

The fountain was different from most other Paris fountains because it used different colors of stone; columns of red marble from Languedoc; green marble; blue stone from Soignies; yellow stone from Saint-Yllie; and bronze statues.

Note: Content from Wikipedia
Web Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please post another photo of the fountain and tell us your opinion about the fountain.
Search for...
Geocaching.com Google Map
Google Maps
MapQuest
Bing Maps
Nearest Waymarks
Nearest Fountains
Nearest Geocaches
Create a scavenger hunt using this waymark as the center point
Recent Visits/Logs:
Date Logged Log User Rating  
Blanko36 visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 01/21/2024 Blanko36 visited it
LaTourSombre visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 07/22/2023 LaTourSombre visited it
fi67 visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 05/19/2023 fi67 visited it
seal13 visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 09/10/2022 seal13 visited it
jezevcik visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 01/25/2022 jezevcik visited it
Outspoken1 visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 11/05/2019 Outspoken1 visited it
Michaelfiles visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 01/26/2019 Michaelfiles visited it
Tromel visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 08/12/2018 Tromel visited it
keillec visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 03/22/2018 keillec visited it
junkys visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 03/03/2017 junkys visited it
petendot visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 01/23/2016 petendot visited it
Luzifersangel visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 10/06/2015 Luzifersangel visited it
dschinny visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 06/07/2015 dschinny visited it
xxxicedevilxxx visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 05/27/2015 xxxicedevilxxx visited it
lorenz1980 visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 05/26/2015 lorenz1980 visited it
Tumbrel visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 02/11/2015 Tumbrel visited it
celene37 visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 12/21/2014 celene37 visited it
Nebola visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 08/14/2014 Nebola visited it
Dragon Ball visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 05/16/2014 Dragon Ball visited it
nelsonlevita visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 02/24/2014 nelsonlevita visited it
dan.ser visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 02/03/2014 dan.ser visited it
Infra-Blue visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 10/03/2013 Infra-Blue visited it
Jyffe visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 05/31/2013 Jyffe visited it
thepauliina visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 05/31/2013 thepauliina visited it
mlafortu visited Fountain on Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France 09/05/2012 mlafortu visited it

View all visits/logs