Fontaine de la Rotonde, Central fountain at Place de la Rotonde, Aix-en-Provence, France.
Fontaine de la Rotonde is a stone fountain on Place de la Rotonde in Aix-en-Provence, 32 metres wide and 12 metres high. Its lower circular basin is surrounded by six groups of two lions on marble pedestals, with four groups of children riding bronze-cast swans inside. A smaller basin above is topped by a pedestal with carved cheetah heads, and three marble statues crown the monument.
The fountain was designed by Théophile de Tournadre in the 1850s and completed in 1860 as the city modernized and expanded during the Second Empire. Its water system was initially supplied by the Zola Canal but was later converted to draw from the Verdon Canal.
The three marble statues crowning the fountain were each carved by a different sculptor: Joseph-Marius Ramus made Justice, facing the Cours Mirabeau; Louis-Félix Chabaud made Commerce and Agriculture, facing the Marseille road; Hippolyte Ferrat made the Fine Arts, facing the Avignon road. Their trio earned the fountain the nickname "fontaine des Trois-Grâces".
The fountain sits in the heart of the city where major boulevards meet, making it easy to reach on foot. The open plaza offers plenty of space to walk around, and the surrounding cafés and shops make it a natural stopping point for rest and people-watching.
The fountain's basin is encircled by a chain cast link by link at the Arts et Métiers ParisTech centre in Aix. Four groups of children riding bronze-patinated cast-iron swans, cast at the Muel Wahl et Compagnie works in Tusey, sit inside the 32-metre basin.
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