The Fontaine Louvois is a monumental public
fountain
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...
in Square Louvois on the rue Richelieu in the Second Arrondissement of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, near the entrance of the
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
. It was built between 1836 and 1839 during the reign of King
Louis-Philippe
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate List of French monarchs#House of Orléans, July Monarchy (1830–1848), monarch of France.
As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, h ...
.
Square Louvois was created in 1830, on the site of the former
Théâtre National de la rue de la Loi which had been built in 1792 and demolished in 1820. The fountain was designed by
Louis Visconti
Louis Tullius Joachim Visconti (Rome February 11, 1791 – December 29, 1853) was an Italian-born French architect and designer.
Life
Son of the Italian archaeologist and art historian Ennio Quirino Visconti, Visconti designed many Par ...
, and the sculpture is by It was restored in 1859, 1874, and 1974.
[Paris et ses fontaines, pg. 288. (see bibliography.)] It also features in Episode 1 Season 4 of
Gossip Girl
''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...
. It is the fountain that Serena (
Blake Lively
Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...
) is pushed into by Blair (
Leighton Meester
Leighton Marissa Meester (; born April 9, 1986) is an American actress, singer, and model. She is best known for her starring role as the devious socialite Blair Waldorf on ''Gossip Girl'' on The CW (2007–2012). She has also appeared in films ...
).
The fountain was intended as an hommage to four great rivers of France: the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
, the
Garonne
The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna
or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – a ...
, the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
, and the
Saône
The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île.
The name deri ...
, represented by four statues of women who support the upper basin. The base of the statue is decorated with four
tritons mounted on
dolphins
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...
. Around the rim of the large marble basin of the fountain are twelve carved signs of the
zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...
, alternating with ''mascarons'', the spouts which pour water.
Image:FontaineLouvois05.jpg, Statue of the Loire
Image:FontaineLouvois06.jpg, Statue of the Saône
Image:FontaineLouvois07.jpg, Statue of the Seine
Image:FontaineLouvois08.jpg, Statue of the Garonne
Image:FontaineLouvois03.jpg, One of the four tritons riding a dolphin
Image:Square Louvois Paris 23-05.jpg, Fontaine Louvois in the middle of Square Louvois in the end of May, seen from the West entrance on Lulli street
Sources and citations
Bibliography
*Paris et ses fontaines, de la Renaissance à nos jours'', Collection Paris et son patrimoine, organized by Béatrice de Andia, Délégué Général à l'Action artistique de la Ville de Paris. (a collection of articles on the history of Paris fountains, organized by the office of the Mayor of the City of Paris.)
External links
Fontaine Louvois{{Coord, 48, 52, 4.70, N, 2, 20, 15.28, E, display=title, scale:1000_region:FR
Buildings and structures in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris
Fountains in Paris