Eginhard Fountain, Passageway and fountain in the Marais, Paris
The Fontaine Éginhard is a dry stone fountain set at the end of a narrow, cobblestone dead-end street in the Marais neighborhood of Paris's 4th arrondissement. The passage is about 10 feet (3 meters) wide, with a central gutter running along the paving stones and small stone posts lining the sides.
The passageway appears in 14th-century documents under the name 'Ruelle Saint-Paul', making it one of the oldest recorded lanes in the Marais. In the 17th century, the nuns of Sainte-Anastase acquired the land and built the structures that still shape the street today.
The Rue Éginhard sits in the Marais, a neighborhood that has housed craftsmen, nuns, and thinkers over the centuries. Some doors along the street still carry iron monograms with the initials 'SA', left behind by the nuns of the Sainte-Anastase hospital who once lived here.
The passage is open on foot and works best as a stop during a walk through the Marais. Since the street is very narrow, visiting outside of peak tourist hours makes it easier to look around without feeling rushed.
At the corner with the Rue Charlemagne, a stone plaque still shows the old street name 'Rue Neuve St Anastase' carved directly into the wall. This name points to a time when the neighborhood was closely tied to religious life in the city, long before it was renamed under the Second Empire.
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