Fontaine de l'Hotel de Ville, Classified historical monument and fountain in Aix-en-Provence, France
The fontaine de la place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville is a classified historical monument and fountain standing on the main square of Aix-en-Provence, directly in front of the town hall. It is made up of a circular stone basin, a cube-shaped pedestal carved with garlands and masks, and a central granite column topped with a stone sphere bearing a laurel branch.
The fountain was built in 1737 from a design by Esprit Brun, with stone sculptures by Jean Chastel. In 1756, an ancient granite column of Roman origin was added, giving the monument the form that can be seen today.
The pedestal carries Latin inscriptions that were replaced over time depending on the political regime in power. Visitors who look closely can still read these texts and notice how the same stone was made to serve very different messages across the centuries.
The fountain sits in the middle of the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville and is easy to reach on foot from most parts of the old town. Walking slowly around the full structure gives a better view of the carvings and inscriptions, which are spread across all four sides of the pedestal.
The oldest inscription on the pedestal records that the city once received its water supply through a Roman aqueduct, making the fountain a direct reference to that ancient infrastructure. This link between the Roman past and an 18th-century construction is visible in stone, right in the middle of a busy square.
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