fontaine des Innocents Monument

Address: Fontaine des Innocents (Place Joachim-du-Bellay / Les Halles), 75001 Paris, France

Hours: Open to the public (outdoor fountain)

Admission: Free (public monument)

The Fontaine des Innocents is a Renaissance wall fountain in central Paris, created in the mid-16th century. It is notable for its carved classical reliefs by Jean Goujon.

The fountain’s four sculpted nymph reliefs and pilastered stone frame are the principal artistic features to see. The architectural composition is modest in scale but important for early French Renaissance sculpture in the city.

The fountain was designed by Pierre Lescot with sculpture by Jean Goujon in the mid-1500s to adorn the cemetery of the Innocents. In the late 18th century it was relocated to its present site in the Square des Innocents and has been restored several times since.

It stands in the Square des Innocents in Paris’s 1st arrondissement, adjacent to the Les Halles area in central Paris.

• Oldest monumental fountain: Dating from the mid-16th century, it is widely regarded as the oldest surviving monumental fountain in Paris.

The Fontaine des Innocents stands in the Les Halles area of Paris on rue des Innocents, near Place Joachim-du-Bellay. Take the Metro to Les Halles (Line 4) or the Châtelet-Les Halles RER hub (RER A, B and D); from Les Halles/Châtelet stations it is an easy 2-5 minute walk to the fountain. Numerous other metro lines serving Châtelet (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, 14) also put you within a few minutes on foot.

• Visit early morning or late evening to avoid the heavy daytime foot traffic around Les Halles; the fountain's 16th-century bas-reliefs show best when you can walk fully around the work without crowds.
• Approach from Rue des Innocents or the adjacent Square des Innocents to view the fountain in its small plaza setting - many visitors only glimpse it from the busy pedestrian routes and miss the sculptural detail on the lower reliefs.
• Combine the fountain visit with a short walk to nearby Musée des Arts et Traditions or the covered market area; signage and plaques at the site explain its Renaissance origin and the later 18th-19th-century re-erection and restorations.