Square Félix-Desruelles, Urban park in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France
Square Félix-Desruelles is a 1,511 m² garden at 168 bis boulevard Saint-Germain, beside the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It holds the Art Nouveau Portique monumental Jules-Coutan, a glazed stoneware structure made for the Manufacture de Sèvres at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, with a central medallion of a draped woman holding a tower. A bronze Bernard Palissy by Louis-Ernest Barrias and the 1925 Pastorale fountain by Félix Desruelles stand among the paths.
The square was created in 1872 on the site of the demolished houses around Saint-Germain-des-Prés church, after the Childebert and d'Erfurth streets were removed for the cutting of Boulevard Saint-Germain. It was named after sculptor Félix Desruelles (1865–1943), whose stone Pastorale fountain was erected here on 15 March 1925. The Art Nouveau glazed stoneware Portique Jules-Coutan, designed by Charles-Auguste Risler and Jules Coutan, was made for the Manufacture de Sèvres pavilion at the 1900 Exposition Universelle.
The bronze Bernard Palissy statue is a cast of Louis-Ernest Barrias's work; an identical cast stands at the entrance of the National Ceramics Museum in Sèvres. The square also holds the Monumental Portico by Jules Coutan, decorated with Art Nouveau motifs and a central medallion of a young woman.
The park sits beside Saint-Germain-des-Prés Church and is easy to reach on foot from nearby streets. The grounds are open to the public, and visitors can comfortably spend time on the benches or explore the layout at their own pace.
The Portique monumental Jules-Coutan, in glazed stoneware, was made for the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres pavilion at the 1900 Exposition universelle, designed by architect Charles-Auguste Risler with sculptor Jules Coutan. Its central medallion shows a draped woman holding a small tower, and a tiled pilaster with rosettes stands beside it.
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