This fountain was built at the beginning of the 19th century by sculptor Ivan Vitali. Initially, it was called Petrovsky, as the current Teatralnaya Square was called at the time of its construction, but most Muscovites called it after the author, and over time this name was fixed officially. The cupids standing on the pedestal, symbolizing Music, Poetry, Tragedy and Comedy, support the bowl from which jets of water flow down.

In the first years after installation, the Vitali fountain brought not only aesthetic, but also practical benefits — it served as a water intake structure. In the first half of the 19th century, the water supply system was just beginning to develop in Moscow, and a queue of residents of neighboring houses lined up near the fountain, who came here to collect drinking water. And in the lower part of the fountain, special tanks were arranged for watering horses.

For many years, the Vitali Fountain has been inactive. In the mid-1990s, reconstruction was carried out, and it was reopened. An interesting fact is that in the last century, a copy of the Vitali Fountain was located in the center of Lubyanka Square. In the 1930s, this fountain was dismantled and moved to Leninsky Prospekt, 14, where the Alexandrinsky Palace was once located.