Parnas fountain, Baroque fountain in the historic centre of Brno, Czech Republic

The Parnas fountain is a Baroque stone fountain in the middle of Zelný trh, Brno's old-town market square. A tall rocky cliff of grey limestone rises from a wide basin; at its top stands a figure of Europa with a sceptre above a defeated dragon, while a cave in the rock holds Heracles with Cerberus. Three seated female figures representing Greece, Babylonia and Persia sit around the sides.

The fountain replaced a Renaissance fountain from 1597 on what was then Horní náměstí. In August 1690 the Brno council commissioned a design from Vienna architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, and the fountain was built between 1690 and 1696. The basin was replaced in the late 19th century, and the Europa statue was restored in 2016 and replaced by a replica in 2024.

The name Parnas arose by mistake: students at the Brno Jesuit college took the female statues for the Muses of Mount Parnassus. The fountain has long drawn vandals; the first recorded theft is in an 1808 report. The sceptres the figures hold were originally gilded, later replaced with copper and now imitation stone.

The fountain stands in the open center of Zelny trh and is easy to reach on foot from most parts of the old town. The square itself is an active market, so visiting in the morning gives a good sense of how the space is used day to day.

Although the fountain looks like a single unified work, its sculptures were made by several different sculptors. This explains the subtle differences in style between the figures that become noticeable when you look at them closely.