Fountains in France
Encyclopedia
Fountains in France provided drinking water to the inhabitants of the ancient Roman cities of France, and to French monasteries and villages during the Middle Ages. Later, they were symbols of royal power and grandeur in the gardens of the Kings of France. Today, though they no longer provide drinking water, they decorate the squares and parks of French cities and towns.
See also:
, Vaison-la-Romaine
, Nimes
, and other towns of Provence
. Like the fountains in Rome, they were fed with water from distant lakes and rivers aqueducts, sometimes more than fifty kilometres from the fountains. Remains of the aqueducts can be found outside Avignon
, Arles
, Aix-en-Provence
, Glanum
, and other Roman towns.
Once the water arrived in the cities, it was channelled into lead pipes which distributed it to street fountains, or direct to Roman baths and villas. Examples of these fountains can be seen in the ruins of Glanum and the museum at Vaison-La-Romaine.
The Roman street fountains were free-standing stone blocks connected to lead pipes beneath the street; water flowed through the pipes and then upward to spouts in the blocks, pushed by water pressure from the higher sources of the water and drawn by the siphon effect of the water flowing out of the spigots. The water emerged from the mouth of a mask shaped like an animal or human face. The water flowed continually, was collected into pots or jars, and taken home.
Beginning in the 5th century A.D., with the invasion of barbarian tribes into France, the Roman fountain system began to break down. Aqueducts were wrecked or fell into ruin, cities were abandoned, and the fountains usually stopped working, either from destruction or from neglect. French cities were not to have a reliable water distribution system until the 18th century.
File:Roman fountain Vaison-la-Romaine.jpg|Stone of a Roman street fountain from Vaison-la-Romaine
, in Provence (1st or 2nd century AD)
File:Roman fountain in louvre 01.JPG|Vasque of an ancient Roman fountain in the Louvre, Paris
File:Venerand font3.JPG|Roman fountain in Vénérand, Charente-Maritime, SW France
File:Glanum Monumental Fountain.JPG| Remains of a monumental Roman fountain near the forum in Glanum
, (about 20 BC)
Fountains in the Middle Ages were associated with the source of life, purity, wisdom, innocence, and the Garden of Eden
. In illuminated manuscripts like the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1411–1416), the Garden of Eden was shown with a graceful gothic fountain in the centre (see illustration).
The cloister of a monastery was supposed to be a replica of the Garden of Eden, protected from the outside world. Simple fountains, called lavabos, were placed inside Medieval monasteries such as Le Thoronet Abbey
in Provence
and were used for ritual washing before religious services.
Fountains were also found in the enclosed medieval jardins d'amour, "gardens of courtly love" - ornamental gardens used for courtship and relaxion. The medieval romance The Roman de la Rose
describes a fountain in the center of an enclosed garden, feeding small streams bordered by flowers and fresh herbs.
Medieval fountains could also provide amusement. The gardens of the Counts of Artois at the Chateau de Herdin, built in 1295, contained famous fountains, called Les Merveilles de Herdin which could be triggered to drench surprised visitors.
The Fontaine de la Croix-de-Pierre in Rouen
is one of the few existing medieval fountains in France. It was built in 1517 next to a stone cross erected by the local bishop in 1197. It was demolished by the Calvinists in 1562, but was rebuilt. In 1792, during the French Revolution
, the cross at the top was replaced by a bust of Marat
. but this was removed in 1795. In 1872 the fountain was rebuilt according to the original plans. The original fountain can be seen in the garden of the Rouen Museum of antiquities.
. These fountains were originally located just outside or at the entrance to a village, at a spring, or close by, connected by an underground gallery. They were often built on the same site as an earlier Roman fountain, and the same basic designs were used from medieval times until the 19th century. Wall fountains were built at the spring, or against the wall of the building. They had a reservoir of water which was filled by gravity, and then the water poured out spouts, or canons, which were often decorated with mascarons, or masks, in the form of the heads of humans, animals or monsters.
Later, in the 16th century, a more sophisticated version of the wall fountain appeared, based on the design of ancient Roman street fountains. These new fountains showed the wealth and prestige of the town or village. and were usually placed in the central square, near the church. Inside the buffet, or the wall behind the fountain, was a hollow chamber called the bassin de repartition, connected by a pipe to the source of water below. The canon of the fountain was connected with the basin, with its entrance just below the water level in the basin. As the water poured out the canon, it would create a siphon, drawing water up the pipe and keeping the bassin de repartition filled.
As the water poured out the canon, it would be captured in an earthenware jar and carried home. The water not taken this way went into a stone abreuvoir, or basin, where it could be drunk by cattle, sheep or horses. The overflow water went then into a separate basin, a lavoir, where it could be used for washing clothes. The overflow water was then used for irrigating gardens. Since the traditional village way of washing clothes was to use wood cinders as a detergent, which were rich in potassium, the wash water was an efficient fertilizer for the gardens.
Another common village fountain design beginning in the 16th century was the fontaine ronde à fût, or barrel fountain. This type of fountain was illustrated on ancient Greek vases from the 6th century B.C. The fountain was free-standing, in the center of a square. It was composed of a circular stone basin, in the center of which was a stone column with a hollow cavity in the center for the bassin de repartition, connected to one or more canons. As the water poured from the canons, water was drawn by a siphon effect from the pipe below, keeping the bassin filled. The top of the fountain was covered by a stone cap, or couvercle, which could be removed to service the fountain.
A third common type of village fountain was the fontaine à bulbe, or bulb fountain. The bulb fountain operated in the same way as the barrel fountain, except that the bassin de repartition was located in a separate stone container, usually bulb shape, placed on top of column. The canons of the fountain were attached to the bulb rather than the column. The masks through which the water flowed were frequently carved directly onto the stone of the bulb.
introduced a new kind of fountain to Europe, where the sculpture and decoration were as important as the water they supplied. They became works of art, and not just of engineering.
Between 1546-1549, the merchants of Paris built the first Renaissance-style fountain in Paris, the Fontaine des Innocents
, to commemorate the ceremonial entry of the King Henry II of France
into the city. The fountain, which originally stood against the wall of the church of the Holy Innocents, was moved and rebuilt several times and now stands in a square near Les Halles. It is the oldest fountain in Paris.
Henry constructed an Italian-style garden with a fountain shooting a vertical jet of water for his favorite mistress, Diana de Poitiers, next to the Château de Chenonceau
(1556–1559). At the royal Château de Fontainebleau
, he built another fountain with a bronze statue of Diane
, goddess of the hunt, modeled after Diane de Poitiers.
Later, after the death of Henry II, his widow, Catherine de Medici, expelled Diana de Poitiers from Chenonceau and built her own fountain and garden there.
King Henry IV of France
made an important contribution to French fountains by inviting an Italian hydraulic engineer, Tomasso Francini, who had worked on the fountains of the villa at Pratalino, to make fountains in France. Francini became a French citizen in 1600, built the Medici Fountain, and during the rule of the young King Louis XIII, he was raised to the position of Intendant général des Eaux et Fontaines of the KIng, a position which was hereditary. His descendants became the royal fountain designers for Louis XIII and for Louis XIV at Versailles.
The Renaissance style spread widely in France, as noblemen and members of court transformed their castles into Renaissance-style residences and laid out gardens and fountains. One example is found at the Château d'Opme
, in the Auvergne
near Clermont Ferrand, where the treasurer of King Louis XIII, built a garden and a fountain, designed by Jean Androuet du Cerceau
.
In 1630 another Medici, Marie de Medici, the widow of Henry IV, built her own monumental fountain in Paris, the Medici Fountain
, in the garden of the Palais du Luxembourg. That fountain still exists today, with a long basin of water and statues added in 1866.
In 1662, King Louis XIV of France
began to build a new kind of garden, the Garden à la française
, or French formal garden, at the Palace of Versailles
. In this garden, the fountain played a central role. He used fountains to demonstrate the power of man over nature, and to illustrate the grandeur of his rule. In the Gardens of Versailles
, instead of falling naturally into a basin, water was shot into the sky, or formed into the shape of a fan or bouquet. Dancing water was combined with music and fireworks to form a grand spectacle. These fountains were the work of the descendants of Tommaso Francini
, the Italian hydraulic engineer who had come to France during the time of Henry IV and built the Medici Fountain
and the Fountain of Diana at Fontainebleau
.
Two fountains were the centerpieces of the Gardens of Versailles, both taken from the myths about Apollo, the sun god, the emblem of Louis XIV, and both symbolizing his power. The Fontaine Latone (1668–70) designed by André Le Nôtre
and sculpted byGaspard and Balthazar Marsy, represents the story of how the peasants of Lycia
tormented Latona and her children, Diana
and Apollo
, and were punished by being turned into frogs. This was a reminder of how French peasants had abused Louis's mother, Anne of Austria
, during the uprising called the Fronde
in the 1650s. When the fountain is turned on, sprays of water pour down on the peasants, who are frenzied as they are transformed into creatures.
The other centerpiece of the Gardens, at the intersection of the main axes of the Gardens of Versailles, is the Bassin d'Apollon (1668–71), designed by Charles Le Brun
and sculpted by Jean Baptiste Tuby. This statue shows a theme also depicted in the painted decoration in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles: Apollo in his chariot about to rise from the water, announced by Tritons with seashell trumpets. Historians Mary Anne Conelli and Marilyn Symmes wrote, "Designed for dramatic effect and to flatter the king, the fountain is oriented so that the Sun God rises from the west and travels east toward the chateau, in contradiction to nature."
Besides these two monumental fountains, the Gardens over the years contained dozens of other fountains, including thirty-nine animal fountains in the labyrinth
depicting the fables of Jean La Fontaine.
There were so many fountains at Versailles that it was impossible to have them all running at once; when Louis XIV made his promenades, his fountain-tenders turned on the fountains ahead of him and turned off those behind him. Louis built an enormous pumping station, the Machine de Marly
, with fourteen water wheels and 253 pumps to raise the water three hundred feet from the River Seine, and even attempted to divert the River Eure to provide water for his fountains, but the water supply was never enough.
(See Gardens of Versailles
)
, who, by royal edict, was Contrôleur des bâtiments of the city of Paris between 1692 and 1740. His fountains were usually small, set against a wall, with a niche and a single spout pouring water into a small basin, but they were dignified and elegant, decorated with seashells, mythological figures, and sometimes had imitations of the calcified walls of grottos, imitating natural springs.
In the middle of the 18th century Voltaire
and other critics began to demand more open squares and more ornamental fountains. In Les Embellisements de Paris, written in 1749, Voltaire wrote, "We have only two fountains in good taste, and they should certainly be better placed. All the others are worthy of a village." The government responded to these demands for grander fountains by commissioning the Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons
(1739) and by an even grander project for a square with fountains, Place Louis XV, which became the Place de la Concorde
.
, and constructed fifteen new fountains, including the Fontaine du Palmier
in Place du Chatelet. King Louis-Philippe (1830–1848) built more monumental fountains, including the Fontaines de la Concorde
(1836–1840) on the Place de la Concorde. The Emperor Louis Napoleon (1851–1870) rebuilt many older fountains, including the Medici Fountain, and built new ones, including the Fontaine Saint-Michel
(1860).
Outside of Paris, the major cities of France competed to build the most majestic monumental fountains.
In 1862, the city of Aix-en-Provence built the Fontaine de la Rotonde at the crossroads of the major roads coming into the city. It was built on the site of an earlier fountain, from 1697. The central element is a bronze vasque eight meters in diameter. Water flows from the vasque through bronze masquerons down into a stone basin ornamented with bronze children riding on swans. Sculpted dolphins on the base of the vasque shoot outwards to a lower basin, 32 meters in diameter, decorated with twelve bronze lions, and at the top, on a pedestal in the center of the vasque, are three statues of women representing agriculture, justice, and the arts.
In Marseille
, the Palais Longchamp was constructed to mark the end of a new acqueduct which brought clean water from the Durance River to Marseille, ending a long water shortage; The fountain, opened in 1869, was the work of Henri Espérandieu, the architect of the major church of Marseille, Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. The basins of the fountain were in placed the center of a double colonnade, which also housed the city's art museum and museum of natural history. The fountain was an allegorical group of sculptures, representing the Durance bringing well-being the Vine and Wheat, symbols of abundance.
The end of the 19th century saw a competition between the major cities of France to construct the most elaborate monumental fountains, composed of groups of allegoricial figures.
The City of Toulon
built a monumental fountain, the Fontaine de la Fédération, in 1890, to commemorate (a year late) the centenary of the French Revolution
. It was the work of two brothers from Toulon, Stanislas Gaudensi Allar, the architect, and André-Joseph Allar, the sculptor. The fountain represents the person of France, in a boat, holding the torch of civilization in one hand, and the table of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in her other and. At her feet are two figures representng Force and Justice. The boat seems to be riding on a cascade of water from which rise two spouts of water.
In 1890 the family of a wealthy Marseille merchant, Estrangin, donated another monumental fountain, the Fontaine Estrangin, a group of allegorical statues depicting Marseille seated upon a throne atop the prows of four ships, representing four continents, made by the Toulon sculptor André Allar.
The city of Nice
built monunental fountain in 1891 to honor its native son, Garibaldi, the hero of Italian independence, who was born in Nice in 1807. The fountain features Garibaldi himself, and bronze figures of France and Italy.
The City of Bordeaux originally commissioned a monumental fountain for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution from Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who had made the State uf Liberty. The statue was finished in 1889, and displayed at the Exposition Internationale in Paris in that year. Bordeaux decided in the end not to fund it, and the fountain instead was placed in Place des terreaux in Lyon in September 1892. The Fontaine Bartholdi
It shows France as a woman driving a chariot drawn by four horses, representingi the four great rivers of France. ,
The improved technology of cast iron allowed mass production of fountains for the first time - the most famous example was the Wallace fountain
, which appeared first in Paris, then in other cities around France. In 1872 a British millionaire, temperance advocate and philanthropist, Sir Richard Wallace, who had spent much of his youth in Paris and had lived there during the 1870 war, recognizing the difficulty and cost of finding drinking water in Paris after the 1870 war, and following a program he had already begun in London, donated fifty cast-iron drinking fountains to the city of Paris. The sculptor of the fountains was Charles-Auguste Lebourg, a student of François Rude
. He designed two models, one free-standing and the other to be attached to a wall, and in 1881, added a third, simpler version. The fountains were a popular success, and new ones were still being installed until the beginning of the First World War.
The fountains of the first half of the century were largely in the classical styles of the previous century. In the second half of the century, fountain designs became as diverse as the styles of modern art, using new materials and new technologies.
From 1911 to 1913 the city of Marseille built an exceptional monumental fountain, the Fontaine Contini, donated by the stone merchant Jules Cantini, made by the Toulon sculptor Andre Allar. It was made entirely of white Carrara marble, and was in the form of a group of allegoritical statues, surrounding a column thirty meters high. At the top of the column was an allegorical statue of Marseille, holding a ship in her hand, and passionate figures around the base representing the Rhone River, the Mediterranean, the Torrent and the Spring.
Only a handful of fountains were built in Paris between 1940 and 1980. The most important ones built during that period were on the edges of the city, on the west, just outside the city limits, at La Defense, and to the east at the Bois de Vincennes.
Between 1981 and 1995, during the terms of President François Mitterrand
and Culture Minister Jack Lang
, and of Mitterrand's bitter political rival, Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac
(Mayor from 1977 until 1995), the city experienced a program of monumental fountain building that exceeded that of Napoleon Bonaparte or Louis Philippe. More than one hundred fountains were built in Paris in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly in the neighborhoods outside the center of Paris, where there had been few fountains before. The Stravinsky Fountain
, the Fountain of the Pyramid of the Louvre
, the Buren Fountain and Les Sphérades fountain in the Palais Royale
, the Fontaine du Parc Andre-Citroen, and new fountains at Les Halles, the Jardin de Reuilly, and beside the Gare Maine-Montparnasse were all built under President Mitterrand and Mayor Chirac.
The Mitterrand-Chirac fountains had no single style or theme. Many of the fountains were designed by famous sculptors or architects, such as Jean Tinguely
, I.M. Pei, Claes Oldenburg
and Daniel Buren
, who had radically different ideas of what a fountain should be. Some of them, like the Pyramide de Louvre fountain, had glistening sheets of water; while in the Buren Fountain in the Palais Royale
, the water was invisible, hidden under the pavement of the fountain. Some of the new fountains were designed with the help of noted landscape architects and used natural materials, such as the fountain in the Parc Floral in the Bois de Vincennes
by landscape architect Daniel Collin and sculptor François Stahly
. Some were solemn, and others were whimsical. Most made little effort to blend with their surroundings - they were designed to attract attention.
Few new fountains have been built in Paris since 2000. The most notable is La Danse de la fontaine emergente
(2008), located on Place Augusta-Holmes, rue Paul Klee, in the 13th arrondissement. It was designed by the French-Chinese sculptor Chen Zhen (1955–2000), shortly before his death in 2000, and finished through the efforts of his spouse and collaborator. It shows a dragon, in stainless steel, glass and plastic, emerging and submerging from the pavement of the square. Water under pressure flows through the transparent skin of the dragon.
File:Strasbourg - Fontaine Héros de l'Indépendance Grecque 2.jpg |Fountain of the heroes of Greek Independence (Strasbourg)
File:Place des fontaines - fountains place - Contrexéville.jpg| Place des fontaines in Contrexéville, Vosges, Lorraine
File:Orléans place De Gaulle 2.jpg | Fountain in Place Charles De Gaulle, Orléans
See also:
- Fountains in ParisFountains in ParisThe Fountains in Paris originally provided drinking water for city residents, and now are decorative features in the city's squares and parks...
- List of Paris fountains
- FountainFountainA fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
Roman Fountains in France
The first known fountains in France were built by Roman engineers in the first and second centuries A.D. in GlanumGlanum
Glanum was an oppidum, or fortified town, founded by a Celto-Ligurian people called the Salyens in the 6th century B.C.,. It was known for the healing power of its spring. It became a Roman city in Provence until its abandonment in 260 A.D....
, Vaison-la-Romaine
Vaison-la-Romaine
Vaison-la-Romaine is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France....
, Nimes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
, and other towns of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. Like the fountains in Rome, they were fed with water from distant lakes and rivers aqueducts, sometimes more than fifty kilometres from the fountains. Remains of the aqueducts can be found outside Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
, Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
, Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
, Glanum
Glanum
Glanum was an oppidum, or fortified town, founded by a Celto-Ligurian people called the Salyens in the 6th century B.C.,. It was known for the healing power of its spring. It became a Roman city in Provence until its abandonment in 260 A.D....
, and other Roman towns.
Once the water arrived in the cities, it was channelled into lead pipes which distributed it to street fountains, or direct to Roman baths and villas. Examples of these fountains can be seen in the ruins of Glanum and the museum at Vaison-La-Romaine.
The Roman street fountains were free-standing stone blocks connected to lead pipes beneath the street; water flowed through the pipes and then upward to spouts in the blocks, pushed by water pressure from the higher sources of the water and drawn by the siphon effect of the water flowing out of the spigots. The water emerged from the mouth of a mask shaped like an animal or human face. The water flowed continually, was collected into pots or jars, and taken home.
Beginning in the 5th century A.D., with the invasion of barbarian tribes into France, the Roman fountain system began to break down. Aqueducts were wrecked or fell into ruin, cities were abandoned, and the fountains usually stopped working, either from destruction or from neglect. French cities were not to have a reliable water distribution system until the 18th century.
File:Roman fountain Vaison-la-Romaine.jpg|Stone of a Roman street fountain from Vaison-la-Romaine
Vaison-la-Romaine
Vaison-la-Romaine is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France....
, in Provence (1st or 2nd century AD)
File:Roman fountain in louvre 01.JPG|Vasque of an ancient Roman fountain in the Louvre, Paris
File:Venerand font3.JPG|Roman fountain in Vénérand, Charente-Maritime, SW France
File:Glanum Monumental Fountain.JPG| Remains of a monumental Roman fountain near the forum in Glanum
Glanum
Glanum was an oppidum, or fortified town, founded by a Celto-Ligurian people called the Salyens in the 6th century B.C.,. It was known for the healing power of its spring. It became a Roman city in Provence until its abandonment in 260 A.D....
, (about 20 BC)
French Medieval Fountains
During the Middle Ages, Roman aqueducts were wrecked or fell into decay, and many fountains in France stopped working, so fountains existed mainly in art and literature, or in secluded monasteries or palace gardens.Fountains in the Middle Ages were associated with the source of life, purity, wisdom, innocence, and the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
. In illuminated manuscripts like the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1411–1416), the Garden of Eden was shown with a graceful gothic fountain in the centre (see illustration).
The cloister of a monastery was supposed to be a replica of the Garden of Eden, protected from the outside world. Simple fountains, called lavabos, were placed inside Medieval monasteries such as Le Thoronet Abbey
Le Thoronet Abbey
Le Thoronet Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, now restored as a museum. It is sited between the towns of Draguignan and Brignoles in the Var Department of Provence, in southeast France...
in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
and were used for ritual washing before religious services.
Fountains were also found in the enclosed medieval jardins d'amour, "gardens of courtly love" - ornamental gardens used for courtship and relaxion. The medieval romance The Roman de la Rose
Roman de la Rose
The Roman de la rose, , is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision. It is a notable instance of courtly literature. The work's stated purpose is to both entertain and to teach others about the Art of Love. At various times in the poem, the "Rose" of the title is seen as the...
describes a fountain in the center of an enclosed garden, feeding small streams bordered by flowers and fresh herbs.
Medieval fountains could also provide amusement. The gardens of the Counts of Artois at the Chateau de Herdin, built in 1295, contained famous fountains, called Les Merveilles de Herdin which could be triggered to drench surprised visitors.
The Fontaine de la Croix-de-Pierre in Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
is one of the few existing medieval fountains in France. It was built in 1517 next to a stone cross erected by the local bishop in 1197. It was demolished by the Calvinists in 1562, but was rebuilt. In 1792, during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the cross at the top was replaced by a bust of Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
. but this was removed in 1795. In 1872 the fountain was rebuilt according to the original plans. The original fountain can be seen in the garden of the Rouen Museum of antiquities.
French Village Fountains
While few fountains were built in French cities, where water was usually taken directly from the river or from wells. many fountains were built in villages, particularly in ProvenceProvence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. These fountains were originally located just outside or at the entrance to a village, at a spring, or close by, connected by an underground gallery. They were often built on the same site as an earlier Roman fountain, and the same basic designs were used from medieval times until the 19th century. Wall fountains were built at the spring, or against the wall of the building. They had a reservoir of water which was filled by gravity, and then the water poured out spouts, or canons, which were often decorated with mascarons, or masks, in the form of the heads of humans, animals or monsters.
Later, in the 16th century, a more sophisticated version of the wall fountain appeared, based on the design of ancient Roman street fountains. These new fountains showed the wealth and prestige of the town or village. and were usually placed in the central square, near the church. Inside the buffet, or the wall behind the fountain, was a hollow chamber called the bassin de repartition, connected by a pipe to the source of water below. The canon of the fountain was connected with the basin, with its entrance just below the water level in the basin. As the water poured out the canon, it would create a siphon, drawing water up the pipe and keeping the bassin de repartition filled.
As the water poured out the canon, it would be captured in an earthenware jar and carried home. The water not taken this way went into a stone abreuvoir, or basin, where it could be drunk by cattle, sheep or horses. The overflow water went then into a separate basin, a lavoir, where it could be used for washing clothes. The overflow water was then used for irrigating gardens. Since the traditional village way of washing clothes was to use wood cinders as a detergent, which were rich in potassium, the wash water was an efficient fertilizer for the gardens.
Another common village fountain design beginning in the 16th century was the fontaine ronde à fût, or barrel fountain. This type of fountain was illustrated on ancient Greek vases from the 6th century B.C. The fountain was free-standing, in the center of a square. It was composed of a circular stone basin, in the center of which was a stone column with a hollow cavity in the center for the bassin de repartition, connected to one or more canons. As the water poured from the canons, water was drawn by a siphon effect from the pipe below, keeping the bassin filled. The top of the fountain was covered by a stone cap, or couvercle, which could be removed to service the fountain.
A third common type of village fountain was the fontaine à bulbe, or bulb fountain. The bulb fountain operated in the same way as the barrel fountain, except that the bassin de repartition was located in a separate stone container, usually bulb shape, placed on top of column. The canons of the fountain were attached to the bulb rather than the column. The masks through which the water flowed were frequently carved directly onto the stone of the bulb.
Fountains of the French Renaissance
The Italian RenaissanceItalian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
introduced a new kind of fountain to Europe, where the sculpture and decoration were as important as the water they supplied. They became works of art, and not just of engineering.
Between 1546-1549, the merchants of Paris built the first Renaissance-style fountain in Paris, the Fontaine des Innocents
Fontaine des Innocents
The Fontaine des Innocents is a monumental public fountain located on the place Joachim-du-Bellay in the Les Halles district in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Originally called the Fountain of the Nymphs, it was constructed between 1547 and 1550 by architect Pierre Lescot and sculptor...
, to commemorate the ceremonial entry of the King Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
into the city. The fountain, which originally stood against the wall of the church of the Holy Innocents, was moved and rebuilt several times and now stands in a square near Les Halles. It is the oldest fountain in Paris.
Henry constructed an Italian-style garden with a fountain shooting a vertical jet of water for his favorite mistress, Diana de Poitiers, next to the Château de Chenonceau
Château de Chenonceau
The Château de Chenonceau is a manor house near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century...
(1556–1559). At the royal Château de Fontainebleau
Château de Fontainebleau
The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards...
, he built another fountain with a bronze statue of Diane
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
, goddess of the hunt, modeled after Diane de Poitiers.
Later, after the death of Henry II, his widow, Catherine de Medici, expelled Diana de Poitiers from Chenonceau and built her own fountain and garden there.
King Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
made an important contribution to French fountains by inviting an Italian hydraulic engineer, Tomasso Francini, who had worked on the fountains of the villa at Pratalino, to make fountains in France. Francini became a French citizen in 1600, built the Medici Fountain, and during the rule of the young King Louis XIII, he was raised to the position of Intendant général des Eaux et Fontaines of the KIng, a position which was hereditary. His descendants became the royal fountain designers for Louis XIII and for Louis XIV at Versailles.
The Renaissance style spread widely in France, as noblemen and members of court transformed their castles into Renaissance-style residences and laid out gardens and fountains. One example is found at the Château d'Opme
Château d'Opme
The Château d'Opme is a castle located in the commune of Romagnat, in the French department of Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France, nine kilometers south of Clermont-Ferrand. Both the chateau and garden are classifed as Historic Monuments of France...
, in the Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
near Clermont Ferrand, where the treasurer of King Louis XIII, built a garden and a fountain, designed by Jean Androuet du Cerceau
Androuet du Cerceau
Androuet du Cerceau was a family of French architects and designers active in the 16th and early 17th century.*Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau *Jean Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau...
.
In 1630 another Medici, Marie de Medici, the widow of Henry IV, built her own monumental fountain in Paris, the Medici Fountain
Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France...
, in the garden of the Palais du Luxembourg. That fountain still exists today, with a long basin of water and statues added in 1866.
French Baroque Fountains
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
began to build a new kind of garden, the Garden à la française
Garden à la française
The French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le...
, or French formal garden, at the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
. In this garden, the fountain played a central role. He used fountains to demonstrate the power of man over nature, and to illustrate the grandeur of his rule. In the Gardens of Versailles
Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
, instead of falling naturally into a basin, water was shot into the sky, or formed into the shape of a fan or bouquet. Dancing water was combined with music and fireworks to form a grand spectacle. These fountains were the work of the descendants of Tommaso Francini
Tommaso Francini
Tommaso Francini, Thomas Francine in France, and his younger brother Alessandro Francini were Florentine hydraulics engineers and garden designers who worked for Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, above all at the Villa Medicea di Pratolino, where Francesco de Vieri described the...
, the Italian hydraulic engineer who had come to France during the time of Henry IV and built the Medici Fountain
Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France...
and the Fountain of Diana at Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...
.
Two fountains were the centerpieces of the Gardens of Versailles, both taken from the myths about Apollo, the sun god, the emblem of Louis XIV, and both symbolizing his power. The Fontaine Latone (1668–70) designed by André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...
and sculpted byGaspard and Balthazar Marsy, represents the story of how the peasants of Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
tormented Latona and her children, Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
and Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, and were punished by being turned into frogs. This was a reminder of how French peasants had abused Louis's mother, Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...
, during the uprising called the Fronde
Fronde
The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
in the 1650s. When the fountain is turned on, sprays of water pour down on the peasants, who are frenzied as they are transformed into creatures.
The other centerpiece of the Gardens, at the intersection of the main axes of the Gardens of Versailles, is the Bassin d'Apollon (1668–71), designed by Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun , a French painter and art theorist, became the all-powerful, peerless master of 17th-century French art.-Biography:-Early life and training:...
and sculpted by Jean Baptiste Tuby. This statue shows a theme also depicted in the painted decoration in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles: Apollo in his chariot about to rise from the water, announced by Tritons with seashell trumpets. Historians Mary Anne Conelli and Marilyn Symmes wrote, "Designed for dramatic effect and to flatter the king, the fountain is oriented so that the Sun God rises from the west and travels east toward the chateau, in contradiction to nature."
Besides these two monumental fountains, the Gardens over the years contained dozens of other fountains, including thirty-nine animal fountains in the labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
depicting the fables of Jean La Fontaine.
There were so many fountains at Versailles that it was impossible to have them all running at once; when Louis XIV made his promenades, his fountain-tenders turned on the fountains ahead of him and turned off those behind him. Louis built an enormous pumping station, the Machine de Marly
Machine de Marly
The Machine de Marly, also widely known as La Machine de Marly and The Machine of Marly, was a French engineering marvel completed in 1684. King Louis XIV needed a large water supply for his fountains at Versailles...
, with fourteen water wheels and 253 pumps to raise the water three hundred feet from the River Seine, and even attempted to divert the River Eure to provide water for his fountains, but the water supply was never enough.
(See Gardens of Versailles
Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
)
Fountains of the 18th Century
The eighteenth century saw the construction of thirty new fountains in Paris, of which fourteen still survive, and the building of three châteaux d'eau, water reservoirs located inside large structures. Many of these fountains were the work of Jean BeausireJean Beausire
Jean Beausire , 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 the public fountains constructed in Paris that period. Several of his fountains still...
, who, by royal edict, was Contrôleur des bâtiments of the city of Paris between 1692 and 1740. His fountains were usually small, set against a wall, with a niche and a single spout pouring water into a small basin, but they were dignified and elegant, decorated with seashells, mythological figures, and sometimes had imitations of the calcified walls of grottos, imitating natural springs.
In the middle of the 18th century Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
and other critics began to demand more open squares and more ornamental fountains. In Les Embellisements de Paris, written in 1749, Voltaire wrote, "We have only two fountains in good taste, and they should certainly be better placed. All the others are worthy of a village." The government responded to these demands for grander fountains by commissioning the Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons
Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons
The Fontaine des Quatre-Saisons is a monumental 18th-century public fountain, at 57-59 rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was executed by Edme Bouchardon, royal sculptor of King Louis XV , and opened in 1745...
(1739) and by an even grander project for a square with fountains, Place Louis XV, which became the Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
.
Fountains of the 19th Century
The 19th century was the golden age of the French fountain. At the beginning the century, Napoleon Bonaparte began the construction of a new canal to Paris to supply water for drinking and for fountains, restored dozens of earlier fountains, including the Medici FountainMedici Fountain
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France...
, and constructed fifteen new fountains, including the Fontaine du Palmier
Fontaine du Palmier
The Fontaine du Palmier is a monumental fountain located in the Place du Châtelet, between the Théâtre du Châtelet et the Théâtre de la Ville, in the First Arrondissement of Paris....
in Place du Chatelet. King Louis-Philippe (1830–1848) built more monumental fountains, including the Fontaines de la Concorde
Fontaines de la Concorde
The Fontaines de la Concorde are two monumental fountains located in the Place de la Concorde in the center of Paris. They were designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, and completed in 1840 during the reign of King Louis-Philippe...
(1836–1840) on the Place de la Concorde. The Emperor Louis Napoleon (1851–1870) rebuilt many older fountains, including the Medici Fountain, and built new ones, including the Fontaine Saint-Michel
Fontaine Saint-Michel
The Fontaine Saint-Michel is a monumental fountain located in Place Saint-Michel in the 5th arrondissement in Paris. It was constructed in 1858-1860 during the French Second Empire by the architect Gabriel Davioud.- History :...
(1860).
Outside of Paris, the major cities of France competed to build the most majestic monumental fountains.
In 1862, the city of Aix-en-Provence built the Fontaine de la Rotonde at the crossroads of the major roads coming into the city. It was built on the site of an earlier fountain, from 1697. The central element is a bronze vasque eight meters in diameter. Water flows from the vasque through bronze masquerons down into a stone basin ornamented with bronze children riding on swans. Sculpted dolphins on the base of the vasque shoot outwards to a lower basin, 32 meters in diameter, decorated with twelve bronze lions, and at the top, on a pedestal in the center of the vasque, are three statues of women representing agriculture, justice, and the arts.
In Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, the Palais Longchamp was constructed to mark the end of a new acqueduct which brought clean water from the Durance River to Marseille, ending a long water shortage; The fountain, opened in 1869, was the work of Henri Espérandieu, the architect of the major church of Marseille, Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. The basins of the fountain were in placed the center of a double colonnade, which also housed the city's art museum and museum of natural history. The fountain was an allegorical group of sculptures, representing the Durance bringing well-being the Vine and Wheat, symbols of abundance.
The end of the 19th century saw a competition between the major cities of France to construct the most elaborate monumental fountains, composed of groups of allegoricial figures.
The City of Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
built a monumental fountain, the Fontaine de la Fédération, in 1890, to commemorate (a year late) the centenary of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. It was the work of two brothers from Toulon, Stanislas Gaudensi Allar, the architect, and André-Joseph Allar, the sculptor. The fountain represents the person of France, in a boat, holding the torch of civilization in one hand, and the table of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in her other and. At her feet are two figures representng Force and Justice. The boat seems to be riding on a cascade of water from which rise two spouts of water.
In 1890 the family of a wealthy Marseille merchant, Estrangin, donated another monumental fountain, the Fontaine Estrangin, a group of allegorical statues depicting Marseille seated upon a throne atop the prows of four ships, representing four continents, made by the Toulon sculptor André Allar.
The city of Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
built monunental fountain in 1891 to honor its native son, Garibaldi, the hero of Italian independence, who was born in Nice in 1807. The fountain features Garibaldi himself, and bronze figures of France and Italy.
The City of Bordeaux originally commissioned a monumental fountain for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution from Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who had made the State uf Liberty. The statue was finished in 1889, and displayed at the Exposition Internationale in Paris in that year. Bordeaux decided in the end not to fund it, and the fountain instead was placed in Place des terreaux in Lyon in September 1892. The Fontaine Bartholdi
Fontaine Bartholdi
La Fontaine Bartholdi is a fountain sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and realised in 1889 by Gaget & Gautier. It was erected at the Place des Terreaux, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, in september 1892.-History:...
It shows France as a woman driving a chariot drawn by four horses, representingi the four great rivers of France. ,
The improved technology of cast iron allowed mass production of fountains for the first time - the most famous example was the Wallace fountain
Wallace fountain
Wallace fountains are public drinking fountains designed by Charles-Auguste Lebourg that appear in the form of small cast-iron sculptures scattered throughout the city of Paris, France, mainly along the most-frequented sidewalks. They are named after the Englishman Richard Wallace, who financed...
, which appeared first in Paris, then in other cities around France. In 1872 a British millionaire, temperance advocate and philanthropist, Sir Richard Wallace, who had spent much of his youth in Paris and had lived there during the 1870 war, recognizing the difficulty and cost of finding drinking water in Paris after the 1870 war, and following a program he had already begun in London, donated fifty cast-iron drinking fountains to the city of Paris. The sculptor of the fountains was Charles-Auguste Lebourg, a student of François Rude
François Rude
François Rude was a French sculptor. He was the stepfather of Paul Cabet, a sculptor.Born in Dijon, he worked at his father's trade as a stovemaker till the age of sixteen, but received training in drawing from François Devosges, where he learned that a strong, simple contour was an invaluable...
. He designed two models, one free-standing and the other to be attached to a wall, and in 1881, added a third, simpler version. The fountains were a popular success, and new ones were still being installed until the beginning of the First World War.
French fountains of the 20th Century
Relatively few new fountains were built in France in the 20th century. Fountains were no longer needed to supply drinking water, and two World Wars interrupted the creation of purely decorative architecture.The fountains of the first half of the century were largely in the classical styles of the previous century. In the second half of the century, fountain designs became as diverse as the styles of modern art, using new materials and new technologies.
From 1911 to 1913 the city of Marseille built an exceptional monumental fountain, the Fontaine Contini, donated by the stone merchant Jules Cantini, made by the Toulon sculptor Andre Allar. It was made entirely of white Carrara marble, and was in the form of a group of allegoritical statues, surrounding a column thirty meters high. At the top of the column was an allegorical statue of Marseille, holding a ship in her hand, and passionate figures around the base representing the Rhone River, the Mediterranean, the Torrent and the Spring.
Between 1981 and 1995, during the terms of President François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
and Culture Minister Jack Lang
Jack Lang (French politician)
Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as France's Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and 1988 to 1992, and as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also the Mayor of Blois from 1989 to 2000...
, and of Mitterrand's bitter political rival, Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
(Mayor from 1977 until 1995), the city experienced a program of monumental fountain building that exceeded that of Napoleon Bonaparte or Louis Philippe. More than one hundred fountains were built in Paris in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly in the neighborhoods outside the center of Paris, where there had been few fountains before. The Stravinsky Fountain
Stravinsky Fountain
The Stravinsky Fountain is a whimsical public fountain ornamented with sixteen works of sculpture, moving and spraying water, representing the works of composer Igor Stravinsky...
, the Fountain of the Pyramid of the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, the Buren Fountain and Les Sphérades fountain in the Palais Royale
Palais Royale
Palais Royale is a dance hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Shore Boulevard at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue on Lake Ontario. Originally built as a boat works, it became notable as a night club in the now-defunct Sunnyside Amusement Park, hosting many prominent 'big band' jazz bands...
, the Fontaine du Parc Andre-Citroen, and new fountains at Les Halles, the Jardin de Reuilly, and beside the Gare Maine-Montparnasse were all built under President Mitterrand and Mayor Chirac.
The Mitterrand-Chirac fountains had no single style or theme. Many of the fountains were designed by famous sculptors or architects, such as Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
, I.M. Pei, Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
and Daniel Buren
Daniel Buren
Daniel Buren is a French conceptual artist.- Work :Sometimes classified as an abstract minimalist Buren is known best for using regular, contrasting maxi stripes to integrate the visual surface and architectural space, notably historical, landmark architecture.Among his chief concerns is the...
, who had radically different ideas of what a fountain should be. Some of them, like the Pyramide de Louvre fountain, had glistening sheets of water; while in the Buren Fountain in the Palais Royale
Palais Royale
Palais Royale is a dance hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Shore Boulevard at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue on Lake Ontario. Originally built as a boat works, it became notable as a night club in the now-defunct Sunnyside Amusement Park, hosting many prominent 'big band' jazz bands...
, the water was invisible, hidden under the pavement of the fountain. Some of the new fountains were designed with the help of noted landscape architects and used natural materials, such as the fountain in the Parc Floral in the Bois de Vincennes
Bois de Vincennes
The Bois de Vincennes is a park in the English landscape manner to the east of Paris. The park is named after the nearby town of Vincennes....
by landscape architect Daniel Collin and sculptor François Stahly
François Stahly
François Stahly was a German-French sculptor....
. Some were solemn, and others were whimsical. Most made little effort to blend with their surroundings - they were designed to attract attention.
Contemporary French fountains
Contemporary French fountains use a wide variety of new materials (plastic, stainless steel, glass) and are often designed to make a statement. Water is always present (otherwise they wouldn't be fountains) but sometimes it plays a minor or supporting role to the sculptural element.Few new fountains have been built in Paris since 2000. The most notable is La Danse de la fontaine emergente
La Danse de la fontaine emergente
Danse de la fontaine émergente is the most recent monumental fountain constructed in Paris. It is located on Place Augusta-Holmes, rue Paul Klee, in the 13th arrondissement...
(2008), located on Place Augusta-Holmes, rue Paul Klee, in the 13th arrondissement. It was designed by the French-Chinese sculptor Chen Zhen (1955–2000), shortly before his death in 2000, and finished through the efforts of his spouse and collaborator. It shows a dragon, in stainless steel, glass and plastic, emerging and submerging from the pavement of the square. Water under pressure flows through the transparent skin of the dragon.
File:Strasbourg - Fontaine Héros de l'Indépendance Grecque 2.jpg |Fountain of the heroes of Greek Independence (Strasbourg)
File:Place des fontaines - fountains place - Contrexéville.jpg| Place des fontaines in Contrexéville, Vosges, Lorraine
File:Orléans place De Gaulle 2.jpg | Fountain in Place Charles De Gaulle, Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...