Also called Grand Regard de l'Observatoire and 27th of the name, the Maison du Fontainier was built at the request of Henri IV and then Marie de Médicis to improve the water supply of Paris and more particularly that of the left bank. Outlet of the aqueduct known as «de Medici», it drains the waters of the water table of Rungis and its surroundings. This aqueduct, parallel to the ancient Gallo-Roman route, begins its race at the Carré des Eaux (look no. 1) in Rungis, leads to Paris through the current Porte de Gentilly, passes under the Parc Montsouris, crosses the new Alésia-Montsouris district, the health home of La Rochefoucault, the park of the Observatory and ends it at the house of the Fontainier. It is built between 1613 and 1623 by entrepreneurs Jean Coing and his son-in-law Jean Gobelin; it measures nearly 13 km. Its route is marked by 27 views that allow to control and maintain the flow system, but also aerate the water to keep it fresh. The final distribution of the waters is done in the basement, above which, in 1619, the house of the Fontainier, of a beautiful Louis XIII style, was built. Until the French Revolution, it served as the official dwelling of the Intendant General of the King’s Fountains and Waters. These basements are now classified as historic monuments. They are divided into three rooms in which there is a basin said respectively, of the King, the Entrepreneurs (Carmelites) and the City. The aqueduct, vaulted gallery, leads into the central basin of the Entrepreneurs. From these basins run the three pipes that distribute water in Paris until the middle of the 19th century.
Access: Metro Port-Royal Bus 38, 91
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