Fountain of the Pantheon

The Fontana di Piazza della Rotonda stands at the centre of the square in front of the Pantheon, and is therefore often called the Fontana del Pantheon. The original fountain was built in 1575 by Giacomo della Porta under Pope Gregory XIII as part of a larger programme to restore the ancient Acqua Vergine aqueduct. In 1711 Pope Clement XI had its central sculpture removed and replaced with an Egyptian obelisk from the reign of Ramesses II, brought from the Iseum sanctuary nearby. Four water-spouting masks around the base are nineteenth-century copies, the originals preserved in a museum. Today the fountain shares the stage with the Pantheon behind it amid cafe tables, tourists and buskers late into the night.