The story
Welcome to the beating heart of Nice, the Place Masséna. As you stand here, surrounded by the striking red-ochre facades and the black-and-white checkered pavement that looks like a giant chessboard, your eyes are likely drawn to the magnificent centerpiece of the square: La fontaine du Soleil, the Fountain of the Sun. Dominating the scene is the colossal white marble statue of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, music, and light.
Standing over seven meters tall, he is a vision of classical beauty, carved by the renowned sculptor Alfred Janniot and unveiled in 1956. But Apollo isn’t alone. At his feet, five bronze figures represent the planets that dance through our solar system: Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Saturn.
Each is depicted with exquisite detail, riding chariots or holding symbols of their celestial identity. However, this fountain holds a secret—a story of scandal and exile that lasted for over forty years. When the fountain was first installed in the 1950s, the local population was, shall we say, a bit more conservative than it is today.
Legend has it that the "League of Virtue" and even the local bishop were scandalized by the sheer scale of Apollo’s anatomy. They found the statue’s nudity a bit too realistic for a public square. By the 1970s, the pressure became too much.
Apollo was quietly dismantled and hauled away. For decades, the Sun God lived a lonely existence. He was moved to the entrance of the Charles-Ehrmann stadium on the outskirts of the city, where he stood largely forgotten by the tourists strolling the Promenade des Anglais.
The bronze planets were scattered as well, and the fountain was replaced by a more modest water feature. It wasn’t until June 2011, during a massive renovation of Place Masséna, that the people of Nice decided their god deserved to come home. Apollo was scrubbed clean, his marble restored to a brilliant white, and he was returned to his rightful throne in the center of the city.
Today, he stands as a symbol of the city's resilience and its embrace of art in all its forms. As you look up at him now, notice how the sun of the French Riviera glints off the bronze figures and how the water provides a cooling mist against the Mediterranean heat. Just behind the fountain, you can see the modern "Conversations à Nice" statues—those translucent figures sitting high on poles—which create a fascinating dialogue between the classical past and the contemporary present.
Take a moment to walk around the basin, admire the muscular grace of the bronze planets, and feel the energy of this historic crossroads where the Old Town meets the modern city. Apollo is back, and the sun is shining once again on Place Masséna.