Fontaine de la Halle aux Blés, fountain in Paris, France

The Fontaine de la Halle aux Blés is a public fountain set into the lower part of the Colonne Médicis, near the Bourse de Commerce on rue de Viarmes in Paris's 1st arrondissement. Its visible portion consists of an octagonal base of light gray stone blocks, with a black stone panel bearing the carved inscription "MDCCCXXVI" and flanked by two narrow pilasters. A dark rectangular door to the right now conceals the basin and tap.

The fountain was installed in 1757 when the grain market was built, replacing the old Hôtel de Soissons. The column itself dates from 1575, commissioned by Catherine de Medici as an astronomical observatory, making this site a blend of scientific purpose and public water supply across centuries.

The name refers to the Halle aux Blés, the grain market built on the site of the Hôtel de Soissons between 1763 and 1766 by architect Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières. The column was kept and built into the market's circular wall, and a public tap was set into its base. The market burned in 1802 and 1854 before becoming the Bourse de Commerce in 1889.

The fountain sits near the Bourse de Commerce in a central location that is easy to reach on foot. A metal door engraved with the date 1812 now covers the original water basin, so visitors see only the outer stone structure and cannot access the interior fountain mechanism.

Louis Petit de Bachaumont bought the column for 800 livres and ceded it to the City of Paris on the sole condition that it never be demolished, which is why it survived the 1748 sale of the Hôtel de Soissons. The fountain's basin and tap are now hidden behind a metal door engraved MDCCCXII, marking the 1812 renovation after the second fire.