Elephants Fountain

One of the town’s emblematic monuments, this fountain was built in 1838 to pay tribute to General de Boigne, a major benefactor of Chambéry, his native town.

At the death of Benoit de Boigne, the town decides to erect a monument to his glory. It chooses the project of Pierre-Victor Sappey for its originality and its importance despite a low-cost. The set is 17,65 meters high, built in limestone from Saint Sulpice. It's a curious and skilled superimposition of three monuments : a fountain, a column and a statue. The fountain shows in its plane a cross of Savoy, represented by four elephants united by their rump. Realized in cast iron, they're dropping the water from their trunk in an octagonal pool. They are carrying a battle tower, ornamented with writings and trophies, remembering the feats in battle of the General in the Indies and his numerous acts of benefaction for the town. On the column, sculpted as if it was a palm tree trunk (again a reference to the Indies), a statue of 3 meters high of the General sat on its top.