The fountain is located in the centre of the oldest part of Kalemegdan Park. The sculpture of a fisherman fighting a snake, cast in bronze, was commissioned by Belgrade municipal officials. The famous sculptor Simeon Roksandic sculpted it during his stay in Rome in 1906. However, the following year, on its way to the Balkan exhibition in London, the sculpture was lost. News of its disappearance reached Belgrade, as well as news that the ship on which it was being transported had sunk. A second casting was made immediately and it is this one that can be seen in Kalemegdan. The original casting was eventually found and was bought by the municipality of Zagreb in 1912. It is exhibited in Zagreb’s Jesuit Square and thus there are identical sculptures in two South Slavic metropolises.

The Tomb of National Heroes was proclaimed a cultural monument, by the decision of the Assembly of the City of Belgrade from 1983.