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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château d'eau de Riom, built between 1830 and 1837, is an octagonal fountain designed to redistribute the waters of the Goulot spring throughout the city. Ordered as part of urban hydraulic work under the Restoration, it replaces the former fountain of the Lines. The architect Guillaume-Thérèse-Antoine Degeorge, student of Charles Percier, draws the plans, providing a reservoir adorned with eight statues of illustrious Auvergnats, never installed.

The structure consists of a circular basin surrounded by four stone mascarons spitting water, surmounted by a three-level reservoir. The middle level, intended for statues, is crowned with a classical frieze, while the top culminates with two superimposed basins. Together, built of Volvic stone, forms a noisy cascade, activated only during the feasts of Saint-Amable and 14 July.

Ranked a historic monument in 1989, this unfinished fountain symbolizes Riom's 19th century urban ambition. Its location on the Place de la Fédération (ex-place du Marché Neuf) marks the arrival of the waters of Volvic, while paying tribute to local figures such as Blaise Pascal or Michel de L-Hospital, whose missing statues recall the original project.

Historical sources (Wikipedia, Monumentum) highlight its role in the riomois hydraulic network, as well as its neoclassical style inspired by Parisian fountains. The work of Degeorge, although truncated, remains a testimony of the technical and artistic progress of the period, integrated into the heritage of the city's seven protected fountains.

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