[2] Ain El Fouara Fountain was sculpted by the French-Italian artist Francis San Vidal in July 1898, during the World Sculpture Exhibition at the Louvre Museum in France.

The king allegedly had a secret love affair with Queen Valentine of Britain, a relationship that remained hidden due to royal customs and the cultural differences between their peoples.

Following her suicide, driven by his refusal to marry her, Louis II ordered the French sculptor San Vidal to carve a statue of the queen in her memory.

The statue was placed in Independence Square in Setif, with the fountain built around it, symbolizing a Roman bath, due to the area's connection to water and its proximity to the cathedral.

Before its use as a fountain, the area known as Ain El Fouara Square was a large, architecturally stunning site, adorned with marble and intricate zellige tiles.

Interestingly, the head of the team that reassembled the fountain after its first vandalism incident was a veteran of the anti-colonial struggle, sentenced to death by the French authorities for his resistance activities.

Abdel Fattah Hamadache, leader of the Salafist Awakening Front, called on the authorities to remove the statue, labeling it an "idol" and an act of polytheism.

His proposal aimed to reconcile religious sensitivities with the city's cultural heritage, preserving the statue while addressing concerns over its depiction of the human form.

[8] On Tuesday, April 22, 1997, during Algeria's Black Decade, a group detonated a bomb beneath the Ain El Fouara Fountain, shattering the statue into numerous pieces.