Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-Sulpice Fountain, located in Place Saint-Sulpice in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, is an emblematic monument of the 19th century. It is also nicknamed the fountain of the four cardinal points because of its four statues of bishops, approximately aligned in these directions. These statues represent sacred speakers of the time of Louis XIV, although none were cardinal, hence the irony of the nickname. The fountain was designed to be part of an unfinished urban project by Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni, replacing an old fountain of peace moved in 1824.

Built between 1843 and 1848 by architect Louis Visconti and entrepreneur Antoine Vivenel, the fountain consists of three superimposed octagonal basins, topped by a square edicle with a baldaquin. Four lions, bearing the coat of arms of Paris, decorate the middle basin, while the corners of the upper basin house basins from which the water flows. The niches of the church house the statues of the bishops Bossuet, Fénelon, Fléchier and Massillon, each famous for its eloquence under Louis XIV. The Renaissance style of the monument, combined with its waterfall water games, makes it a balanced and majestic architectural ensemble.

The four immortalized bishops were chosen for their oratory talent. Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon, archbishop of Cambrai, are among the most influential. Esprit Fléchier, bishop of Nîmes, and Jean-Baptiste Massillon, bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, complete this quartet. Their statues, larger than nature, were carved by renowned artists: Jean-Jacques Feuchère for Bossuet, François Lanno for Fénelon, Louis Desprez for Fléchier, and Jacques-Auguste Fauginet for Massillon. The fountain, listed as a Historic Monument in 1926, remains a testimony of Parisian art and religious history.

External links