la Fontaine de Montreuil

The Fontaine de Montreuil stands as a stone island on the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, marking a location that once served a very different purpose. Designed by the architect Jean Beausire in seventeen ten, this structure was built to supply water to the nearby Abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs. At the time of its construction, the abbey held an exclusive monopoly on the sale of meat in this neighborhood, and the fountain sat directly beside a bustling covered market known as the Petite Halle, which served the abbey's commercial interests. While the market disappeared long ago, this fountain remains as the final vestige of that medieval economic privilege.