Thursday, August 20, 2020

Fontaine Saint-Sulpice

This is the neighborhood I lived in for a while when I was a student in Paris in 1981. I crossed through this place and by this fountain almost daily on my way to classes. The monumental church of Saint-Sulpice borders the eastern edge of the place. The fountain, built in the mid-nineteenth century, sits in the center of the place. It's no timid fountain. Water pours from urns poised above statues of crouching lions before it cascades in shimmering sheets over the edges of the fountain's superimposed basins.

The fountain and the place Saint-Sulpice in late April 2018. The church of Saint-Sulpice is at my back.

I took a nostalgic walk through the place early on a damp Sunday morning, a time when the city can be eerily quiet. Although I didn't realize it back in 1981, I was lucky to be living in the center of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just a short walk from this fountain, in one of Paris' many historic districts.

4 comments:

  1. Stunning fountain and photo, especially at full screen.

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  2. An unchanging Unmistakably French spectacle. Yesterday’s pyramids photo looked like a study for an L. S. Lowry painting. Iconic.

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  3. One of my favorite places in Paris and even better when it’s not filled with people. Thanks.

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  4. There is on the Place that wonderful cafe' with the red awning (on the rue Bonaparte) which is one of our favorite haunts when in Paris. God knows when and if we shall ever be there again, Roderick

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