The Place Castellane is a historic square in the

6th arrondissement The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and large ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It was built in 1774.

History

The square was named for Henri-César de Castellane-Majastre, an aristocrat who donated the land for its construction in 1774. A fountain with an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...

used as a lavoir was built in the middle of the square in 1798. In 1911, the obelisk was relocated to Mazargues. Meanwhile,

Jules Cantini Jules Cantini (1826–1916) was a French sculptor and philanthropist. Biography Early life Jules Cantini was born on 2 February 1826 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. His father was Gaétan Cantini, an Italian mason, and his mother, T ...

donated a new fountain, which was designed by sculptor

André-Joseph Allar André-Joseph Allar (22 August 1845 – 11 April 1926) was a French sculptor. Biography André-Joseph Allar was born in Toulon on 22 August 1845. He became a successful sculptor after training under Antoine Laurent Dantan and Pierre-Jules Cave ...

. The fountain, completed in 1913, represents three

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

rivers: the

Durance The Durance (; ''Durença'' in the Occitan classical norm or ''Durènço'' in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is .Gardon, and the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

. The square, with the original obelisk, is mentioned by

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

in his 1919 novel entitled ''

The Arrow of Gold ''The Arrow of Gold'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1919. It was originally titled "The Laugh" and published serially in ''Lloyd's Magazine'' from December 1918 to February 1920. The story is set in Marseille in the 1870s during th ...

''.

References

6th arrondissement of Marseille Buildings and structures completed in 1774 1774 establishments in France Buildings and structures in Marseille {{France-struct-stub