Almost unmarked, and certainly often unnoticed, the Fontaine de la Croix-du-Trahoir sits at the base of a building whose story is as unusual as that of the fountain itself.
The corner it sits on isn’t much today, but five centuries ago it sat at the intersection of the main east-west and north-south roads into Paris; it was the scene of public executions until the 1690s and featured a large cross to encourage the condemned to say last prayers. The cross came down in 1789 during the Revolution.
The first fountain at the site was ordered in 1529 by Francis I, but was in very poor condition by the time Louis XVI became king in 1774. The rather wordy Latin plaque informs us that in the first year of his reign he ordered it rebuilt “with more elegance.” The architect was Jacques-Germaine Soufflot, better known as the architect of the Pantheon.
Souffllot’s plan included the three-story corner building which originally housed mechanism that allowed water from the Samaritaine pump near the nearby Pont Neuf to flow from the fountain. The facade is decorated with friezes of stalactites that hint of water flowing from above.
Water equipment and employees occupied the building until the middle of the 20th century. In 1996, it was repurposed as a consulate for Andorra, opened with ceremony by President Charles de Gaulle. After Andorra moved on in 2002, an art collective moved in, at first as squatters and now as legal occupants, with galleries and classes.
