Fountain of Samson, Baroque fountain in Podil district, Kyiv, Ukraine

The Fountain of Samson is a Baroque structure in Kyiv featuring a central statue of a man wrestling a lion set within a circular rotunda topped with a decorative cupola. The composition displays craftsmanship typical of the Baroque style from its era.

The fountain was built between 1748 and 1749 as part of efforts to improve the water system in the Podil district. Its design came from Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi, a significant architect of that period.

The Samson figure gave the fountain its name; the biblical hero tearing a lion's jaws was carved in wood and set here in 1749. On feast days clergy blessed the water and hung crosses around the statue's neck, and the rotunda's columns were decorated with tree branches. The fountain appears in Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky's novel Kaydasheva simya (1878), where Palazhka describes it half-legendarially.

The fountain is easily accessible on foot in the heart of Podil, with paved paths around it suitable for different mobility levels. Visitors can explore the site at any time and no special preparation is needed.

The sundial on the pavilion roof was made by Brullion, a French teacher at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, at the end of the 17th century. It burned with the pavilion in the great Podil fire of 1811; the gazebo was rebuilt without it. The Samson statue was removed in 1934 and recreated half a century later from a copy now kept in the National Art Museum of Ukraine.