Fontaine Saint-Michel and the Archangel Michael

Place Saint-Michel sits in the Latin Quarter, the university district, and has served as a center of student protest. The Fontaine Saint-Michel in the middle of the square was built in 1858, during Napoleon III's redevelopment of Paris.

Does the name ring a bell? Take Mont-Saint-Michel, the popular day trip from Paris, and drop the "Mont," and you have Saint-Michel. "Saint" is a saint, and "Michel" is Michael in English, Michael (pronounced MEE-khah-el) in German, and Miguel in Spanish; San Miguel beer is named for the same figure. All of them refer to the Archangel Michael, so Saint-Michel means "Saint Michael the Archangel."

Michael has two main roles. The first is as commander of the angelic army, defeating demons such as the fallen angel Lucifel, who became Lucifer. That's why Michael is shown with a sword in one hand, standing on a demon, and any angel you see in a painting or sculpture like that is Saint Michael.

His second role is judge at the Last Judgment. Remember the angel carved on Notre-Dame's Portal of the Last Judgment, holding something other than a spear? That's a scale. On Judgment Day, Michael takes the souls of the dead and weighs them, whether heavy or light, that is, whether their faith is heavy or light, and decides whether they go to heaven or hell. So at Notre-Dame and here at Place Saint-Michel, you meet the Archangel Michael in two different roles.