Fountan at Theater Square, Public fountain in Proletarsky District, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

The Theater Square fountain is the largest fountain in Rostov-on-Don, built in the center of the Theater Square laid out beside the Maxim Gorky Theater in 1936. Its core is a sculptural group of Atlanteans standing on a pedestal and holding up a large bowl, surrounded by figures of frogs and turtles. The sculptures were originally cast in concrete made with white cement; after the 1999 restoration the figures were made in repoussé copper and the podium faced with natural stone.

The fountain was created by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich, a graduate of the Rostov Art School, and installed in 1936 together with the Theater Square next to the Maxim Gorky Theater. It was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and rebuilt in the 1950s. By the 1970s the frogs and turtles had disappeared and a support was placed under the bowl. It was restored to its original appearance for the city's 250th anniversary in 1999, with the figures remade in hammered copper.

Locals call the Atlantes holding the basin "peasants with a bowl". Vuchetich, a graduate of the Rostov Art School, reportedly gave the frogs and turtles the faces of city officials as a settling of scores. The figures were recast in hammered copper during the 1999 restoration.

The fountain stands in the centre of Theater Square, next to the Gorky Theater, in Rostov-on-Don's Proletarsky District. It is lit with coloured lights in the evening. The square is a regional cultural heritage site, so the sculptures should not be touched.

The sculptor was Yevgeny Vuchetich, a graduate of the Rostov Art School, and legend holds that he gave the frogs and turtles the faces of city officials in revenge for old grievances. The animals were made of white-cement concrete; the 1999 restoration recast the Atlantes, frogs and turtles in repoussé copper.