La fontaine d’Aligre à Cercy-la-Tour

This sandstone and bronze fountain from 1844 bears the effigy of the Marquis and Marquise d'Aligre. Originally from the Chartres region, Etienne Jean Fançois Charles, Marquis d'Aligre, belonged to one of the most important houses of the ancient nobility. Born on February 20, 1770 in Paris, he had been a widower since 1793, when he remarried in 1810 to Louise Charlotte Aglaé Camus de Pont Carrée. The latter, born on April 26, 1776 in Paris, came from a Burgundian family. They distributed a large part of their goods to various charitable establishments in Château-Chinon, Luzy, Bourbon-Lancy and Cercy-la-Tour. It was there that they donated, to the inhabitants of the town, a well, 25 meters deep and a pump surrounded by a fountain, located on the church square, called at that time place Saint Pierre. To thank these benefactors, the Cercy municipality decided, on May 10, 1844, that Saint-Pierre Square would henceforth bear the name of Place d'Aligre. The bronze busts of the marquis and marquise were later placed on the pump. One text states that, deprived of the joy of being a mother, Mme d'Aligre wanted to create a large adoptive family. After her death on January 27, 1843, she was buried in the chapel of the church in Lèves (Eure-et-Loir). The Marquis d'Aligre, peer of France, commander of the Legion of Honor, died on March 11, 1847.