Fontaine du Pot-de-Fer, Historic drinking fountain at Rue Mouffetard, France

Fontaine du Pot-de-Fer is a drinking fountain located at the corner of Rue Mouffetard and Rue du Pot-de-Fer with a double facade and rounded corners. The structure displays decorative elements including shells, waves, and scrolls on its cornice.

The fountain was built in 1624 and underwent restoration in 1671 under architect Michel Noblet. It originally provided water to the Saint-Médard village before the area became incorporated into Paris in 1724.

The name comes from the Rue du Pot-de-Fer, the street it faces at the corner; the fountain is often wrongly called "fontaine Mouffetard". It fed the small bourg of Saint-Médard, then the Saint-Marceau quarter after 1724. Jules-Adolphe Chauvet drew it in 1887 and Eugène Atget photographed it in 1901 as the "fontaine du Pot-de-fer Saint-Marcel".

The fountain stands at 60 Rue Mouffetard, on the corner with Rue du Pot-de-Fer, where the two facades face the two streets. The single tap on the Rue Mouffetard side stopped running in 2018 and was not replaced, so it is no longer a working water point. The rounded corner and terrace are best seen from the opposite pavement.

The fountain's sculptural frame once held an inscription, though today only its recessed space remains visible. This detail reveals how such structures transformed over time as inscriptions wore away or were removed.