Fontaine-réservoir Sainte-Marie, Public fountain in Rouen, France

The Fontaine-réservoir Sainte-Marie is a tiered stone monument on rue Louis-Ricard and rue Sainte-Marie in Rouen, built to both hold water and display sculpture. A pale limestone wall with a rounded basin is flanked by curving staircases, and above it a rocky mass supports dark metal figures: a central seated figure with an arm raised, smaller figures, and a horse and a horned animal at the sides. An iron fence with vertical bars stands in front, and a blue-and-white chevron sign with a red no-entry sign is on the street.

Inaugurated on 26 October 1879 by Alexandre Barrabé, the fountain was designed by architect Édouard Deperthes and sculptor Alexandre Falguière, winners of a competition that also drew Bartholdi. Its initial cost was estimated at 282,000 francs. The animal sculptor Victor Peter carved the horse and ox, while Alphonse Guilloux made the children, allegories of the Robec and Aubette waters. The ensemble, lit by gas, was electrified in 1919, and the control system was removed in 1977.

The children carved by Alphonse Guilloux personify the waters of the Robec and Aubette, the two streams whose supply the reservoir was built to manage. Victor Peter carved the horse and the ox beside them. The fountain stands on the site of an old circus, near the Musée des Antiquités.

The fountain sits near the Museum of Antiquities on Louis-Ricard Street and is readily accessible to visitors. The monumental stairs and open basin allow you to view the structure from different angles and appreciate its sculptural details.

The fountain doubles as a working reservoir: its underground tank still supplies Rouen with drinking water, and the structure was classified as a monument historique together with that reservoir in 1995. Its gas lighting was converted to electricity in 1919, and the control mechanism was removed in 1977.