Fontaine de l'Observatoire

The Fontaine de l'Observatoire is defined by four bronze female figures who twist their bodies to support a celestial sphere above their heads. Dedicated in eighteen seventy-four, the fountain stands in the Jardin Marco Polo along the axis between the Paris Observatory and the Palais du Luxembourg. It was commissioned in eighteen sixty-seven by Baron Haussmann as part of a grand plan to reshape the city, and the architect Gabriel Davioud oversaw the project with strict instructions to keep the monument from blocking the view of the nearby domed observatory.