Fontaines de la Concorde

Designed by the German-born architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff and completed in 1840, these two monumental fountains—the Fontaine des Mers (Maritime Fountain) and the Fontaine des Fleuves (River Fountain)—anchor the Place de la Concorde in Paris. They were commissioned during the reign of King Louis-Philippe as part of a grand redesign of the square, which had previously been the site of mass executions during the French Revolution, including the beheading of King Louis XVI. The fountains were modeled after the grand fountains of St. Peter's Square in Rome and were intended to celebrate France's maritime and inland water achievements. The southern fountain represents the seas and oceans, while the northern one honors the Rhine and Rhône rivers. Constructed from cast iron and adorned with bronze and gold, they remain some of the finest examples of 19th-century public art and engineering, originally relying on gravity-fed water from the Canal de l'Ourcq.