Fontaine Saint-Sulpice

The Fontaine Saint-Sulpice, which stands prominently before the church, is famous among locals for a clever linguistic pun. The fountain features statues of four prominent seventeenth-century French bishops, and it is nicknamed the Fountain of the Four Points of the Compass. In French, the words for cardinal points of the compass sound identical to the words for cardinal bishops of the church. The joke is that none of the four men depicted on the fountain were ever elevated to the rank of cardinal.