Paris

Saint-Michel Fountain

The Saint-Michel Fountain is a meeting point for Parisians. When someone proposes to meet themselves in the center of the city, they often stay in this place. You can probably see those people who wait anxiously for the arrival of the friend or lover.

This monument was built in 1860 during the Second French Empire, by Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, as one of the reconstruction works of Paris by Haussmann. You can confirm it with the plaque that is just above the angel. In 1855, Haussmann completed a new huge boulevard, the so-called Boulevard Saint-Michel today (look to the left, looking at the angel). The architect Gabriel Davioud chooses this statue representing the struggle of Good and Evil, where the Archangel Michael, with a sword in his hand, appears submitting to the Devil. The location in this place was chosen to hide the unsightly façade generated by the opening works of Boulevard Saint-Michel.

This fountain corresponds to the last great Parisian fountain located on a facade. Later all the monumental sources were located in squares or parks. They say that the original statue was to be of Napoleon Bonaparte, but this provoked the opposition of a part of the population for which they agreed that the central figure was the archangel Michael.