Fontaine Saint-Michel, Monumental fountain in Latin Quarter, France

The Fontaine Saint-Michel fills the entire gable wall at the corner of Boulevard Saint-Michel and Rue Saint-André-des-Arts, facing north. It is 26 metres high and 15 metres wide, built like a triumphal arch: four Corinthian columns of red Languedoc marble frame a central niche holding Francisque Duret's bronze archangel Michael above the devil, with two winged bronze dragons by Henri-Alfred Jacquemart flanking the stepped basin. Four bronze cardinal virtues stand above the columns, and an inscribed tablet sits in the attic.

The fountain was commissioned by Baron Haussmann as part of his rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III. Work began in June 1858 and it was inaugurated on 15 August 1860, on a design by Gabriel Davioud. The first idea, a huge statue of Napoleon I, was dropped; at the request of the municipal commission the theme became the archangel Michael defeating the Devil. It was listed as a monument historique on 16 March 1926.

The central group shows the archangel Michael, cast by Francisque Duret, defeating the devil; the municipal commission chose this theme to recall the Chapelle Saint-Michel in the Cité, demolished in 1784. On the pedestals of the two winged dragons, inscriptions added after 1944 commemorate the FFI fighters and local residents killed during the Liberation of Paris.

The fountain sits at the Boulevard Saint-Michel intersection and is easily reached by metro at Saint-Michel station or the Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame RER stop. Being centrally located, you can explore it comfortably on foot while wandering through nearby streets and squares.

The fountain's two winged dragons carry inscriptions added after August 1944, when fighting between the FFI and German occupying forces took place around Place Saint-Michel. The left pedestal records the uprising of 19–25 August; the right one names soldiers of the French Forces of the Interior and residents of the 5th and 6th arrondissements who died there.