The Fountain of the Sun will return as a whole, just as it was originally, with its 7-meter-high statue of Apollo reigning over its five planets. Apollo will certainly reunite with his planets on June 21st, the first day of summer.
The Fountain of the Sun, inaugurated in 1956 at Place Masséna, was created by the sculptor Alfred Janniot, who is also the author of the Rauba Capeu War Memorial. Its central statue of Apollo, made of marble, is surrounded by five bronze sculptures celebrating the planets Earth, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus.
In recent decades, the history of the Fountain of the Sun has experienced multiple twists and turns: a relocation further south of the square, the removal of the Apollo statue in the 1970s, a trip to the workshops of the Coubertin Foundry for restoration in the 1990s, and a grand reinstallation upon the completion of the tramway and the redevelopment of Place Masséna.
However, when the Fountain of the Sun returned to the square, Apollo did not reappear in his original position and remained installed at the entrance of the Charles Ehrmann stadium, where he has lived a peaceful life for over thirty years.
