Fontaine du Palmier
Fontaine du Palmier rises at the centre of Place du Châtelet in Paris’s First Arrondissement. This monumental fountain is also known as the Fontaine de la Victoire. Built between 1806 and 1808 under Napoleon Bonaparte, it belonged to a group of fifteen fountains supplying fresh drinking water. François-Jean Bralle designed the structure for the First Empire’s Parisian waterworks.
A Roman-inspired column carries sculpted palm leaves that recall Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign. Bronze bands record victories at Danzig, Ulm, Marengo, the Pyramids and Lodi. Louis-Simon Boizot created the gilded bronze Victory at the summit, a figure often mistaken for a bird. Four further Boizot statues represent Vigilance, Justice, Strength and Prudence around the base.
The fountain moved to the middle of the square in 1858 during Baron Haussmann’s Paris renovations. Gabriel Davioud then added a lower basin with Egyptian sphinxes by Henri Alfred Jacquemart. The original Victory now stands in the Carnavalet Museum, leaving its gilded copy above the column.
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Image: VassilPublic domain 
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