Winged dragon

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Winged dragon by Henri Alfred Jacquemart
Fontaine Saint-Michel
Place Saint-Michel
Quartier de la Monnaie, 6th arrondissement
Paris, July 2002

“ Davioud's original project was for a fountain dedicated to peace, located in the center of the square. The prefect authorities rejected this idea and asked him instead to build a fountain to hide the end wall of the building at the corner of the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-André-des-Arts. This forced Davioud to adapt his plan to the proportions of that building. The next design made by Davioud in 1856 provided the architectural structure of the fountain; a facade divided into four horizontal levels, similar to a triumphal arch, with four Corinthian columns on high socles framing the central niche. The main cornice is surmounted by a French Renaissance design feature, an inscribed tablet in a grand architectural framing. As the revised site was just off the axis of the bridge, Davioud created a visual compromise in a series of shallow bowed basins through which the water issuing from the rock under the supine body of Saint Michael's adversary spills. The water ends in a basin sunk into street level, with a curving front edge that softens the line of the monument's architectural base.” (Fontaine Saint-Michel, Wikipedia)