Wallace's Fountains

From Paris Hotels Reviews

Wallace's Fountains

After the Prussian siege and the bloody fighting of the Commune (see Paris Commune), parts was physically and emotionally scared, and badly in need of succor. In 1872, a wealthy British resident of the city called Richard Wallace came up with the perfect symbol of renewal. He gave the city fifty cast-iron drinking fountains, each topped with a kind of miniature temple designed by the sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg, its roof supported by four caryatids representing Simplicity, Temperance, Charity and goodness. More fountains were added in later years, and today some 65 still stand in the city. Painted in lustrous green, their usefulness is limited these days by the loss of the cups once permanently attached to them. All the same, les lontaines Wallace remain quintessential symbols of Paris. (Curiously, the fountains have unusual status in the French language, too, being one of few French words to begin with “w” like le whisky, le weekend and le walkman, they are a treasured import.)