Fontaine Saint-Sulpice, Fountain in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France

The Fontaine Saint-Sulpice stands in the centre of Place Saint-Sulpice, in front of the church. It rises about 12 metres from three octagonal basins stacked in a pyramid, the lowest roughly 10 metres wide. The square upper structure has four arched niches framed by pilasters, each holding a seated bishop, and is topped by a baldaquin roof with a cross-shaped finial. Four lions on the second basin hold the coat of arms of Paris.

The fountain was commissioned by Rambuteau, prefect of the Seine under King Louis Philippe I, as part of a program that added 200 kilometers of water mains and 1,700 small fountains, freeing monumental fountains for decoration. Louis Visconti's design was approved in 1843 and built with contractor Antoine Vivenel from 1843 to 1848, the year the Revolution overthrew Louis-Philippe. Critics at its opening complained that it hid the church entrance and that its vases looked like cooking pots.

The four seated figures are Bossuet (north, by Jean-Jacques Feuchère), Fénelon (east, François Lanno), Fléchier (west, Louis Desprez) and Massillon (south, Jacques-Auguste Fauginet, finished by Fouquiet). Parisians call it the fountain of the four cardinal points, a pun on points cardinaux and the fact that none of these eloquent preachers was ever made a cardinal.

The fountain stands in the middle of Place Saint-Sulpice, directly on the parvis facing the church entrance, so it is seen head-on when leaving the church. The square is paved and open, allowing a walk around all four sides; the statues face north, east, west and south. The monument is roughly 12 metres high, with the lowest octagonal basin about 10 metres wide.

An old wordplay connects the fountain's name to the dual meaning of cardinal as both a direction and a religious title. This linguistic quirk appears in an informal name that locals recognize and occasionally use.