Fountain of the Four Dolphins, Fountain and classified historical monument in Aix-en-Provence, France
The Fontaine des Quatre-Dauphins is a Baroque marble fountain in the Mazarin quarter of Aix-en-Provence, France. Four carved marble dolphins rise from a round basin of Sainte-Baume stone to support a tall, slender obelisk topped with a decorative finial.
Sculptor Jean-Claude Rambot made the fountain in 1667, at the same time the Mazarin quarter was being laid out in a grid to expand the city southward. The project was backed by Michel Mazarin, brother of Cardinal Jules Mazarin, and followed planning ideas brought from Italy.
The square takes its name directly from the four marble dolphins at the center, which shows how much the fountain shapes the identity of the neighborhood. People from the surrounding streets pass through daily, and the soft sound of running water makes it a natural stopping point.
The fountain stands on a small square in the Mazarin quarter and is easy to reach on foot from the Cours Mirabeau in just a few minutes. Morning light or late afternoon sun brings out the texture of the stone and the details of the dolphins most clearly.
The top of the obelisk has been replaced several times over the centuries, moving from a pine cone to a Maltese cross and then to a gilded fleur-de-lys. When vandalism in the 1980s destroyed the decoration, the town commissioned an exact copy and put it back in place.
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