The Fontaine de l'Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a fountain constructed in 1715-1717, at the end of the reign of King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

and the beginning of the reign of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, to provide drinking water in the neighborhood near the church of Saint Germain-des-Prés, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally located at the corner of the Rue Sainte-Marguerite (now rue Gozlin) and Rue Childebert. The fountain mechanics were designed by

Jean Beausire Jean Beausire (26 February 1651 - 20 March 1743) was an architect, engineer and fountain-maker and the chief of public works in Paris for King Louis XIV of France and King Louis XV of France between 1684 and 1740, and was the architect of all t ...

, the chief of public works and fountain-maker for Louis XIV, who built more than twenty fountains in Paris between 1684 and 1740. The architect was Victor-Thierry Dailly, who in 1715 was commissioned to build a group of houses and the fountain around the parvis of the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres.Michel Gallet, ''Les Architectes parisiens du XVIIIe - Dictionnaire biographique et critique'' In the middle of the 19th century, the construction of

Boulevard Saint-Germain Boulevard Saint-Germain () is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. It curves in a 3.5-kilometre (2.1 miles) arc from the Pont de Sully in the east (the bridge at the edge of Île Saint-Louis) to the Pont de la Concorde ( ...

by Baron Haussmann required the destruction of the site where the fountain was located. The fountain was moved to Place Langevin in the 5th arronidissement, against the wall of the old Ecole Polytechnique, where it can be seen today.

Bibliography

*''Paris et ses fontaines, de la Renaissance à nos jours'', texts assembled by Dominque Massounie, Pauline-Prevost-Marcilhacy and Daniel Rabreau, Délegation a l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris. from the Collection Paris et son Patrimoine, directed by Beatrice de Andia. Paris, 1995.() *Michel Gallet, ''Les Architectes parisiens du XVIIIe - Dictionnaire biographique et critique'', Paris, Éditions Mengès, 1995,()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine De L'abbaye De Saint-Germain-Des-Pres Fountains in Paris Buildings and structures in the 5th arrondissement of Paris