Place Saint-Sulpice

The large, ornate fountain standing at the center of the square is often locally called the Fountain of the Four Points of the Compass. This is a subtle linguistic joke, as the French word for points of the compass is cardinaux, which also means cardinals. The fountain features statues of four prominent seventeenth-century bishops, but none of these men were ever actually named a cardinal by the church. Consequently, the structure is also known by the nickname the Fountain of the Four Not Cardinals.