Danse de la Fontaine Emergente

Curving up out of a Parisian square is the technicolor curve of a dragon’s body that has defied the dimensions by morphing from a 2-D wall illustration to a 3-D piece of art. Oh, and it’s also a fountain. 

The Danse de la Fontaine Emergente, located on Paris’ Place Augusta-Holmes, is a grand love letter to both dragons and water features. It was created by French-Chinese artist Chen Zhen who unfortunately didn’t live to see his fantastical work come to life. However, Zhen left plans for the creation of the dragon fountain, which was finished by his wife in 2008.

The dragon begins as a frieze on the wall of the nearby water control facility, and snakes down to the square where large coils of the serpent, made of steel and plastic, rises from the ground. The coils have jets of water inside that act as a tubular fountain. It’s a neat sight to behold in the day time, but by night, the fountain is lit by a rainbow of bright colors making it look like some sort on neon monster.

It may seem like a bit of a shock in the middle of Paris’ old world charm, but this futuristic dragon fountain is a little bit fantasy, and a little bit nightclub.