Pont Neuf
| Le Pont Neuf | |
|---|---|
Pont Neuf at sunset.
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| Coordinates | 48°51′26.81″N 2°20′29.82″E / 48.8574472°N 2.3416167°ECoordinates: 48°51′26.81″N 2°20′29.82″E / 48.8574472°N 2.3416167°E |
| Crosses | River Seine |
| Locale | Paris, France |
| Next upstream |
Pont au Change Pont Saint-Michel |
| Next downstream | Pont des Arts |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | arch bridge |
| Material | stone |
| Total length | 232 metres (761 ft) |
| Width | 22 metres (72 ft) |
| Number of spans | 7 + 5 |
| History | |
| Designer | Believed to be Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau and Guillaume Marchand maintenance engineering by Soufflot, Perronet, Lagalisserie and Résal |
| Construction begin | 1578 |
| Construction end | 1607 |
The Pont Neuf (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃ nœf], "New Bridge") is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. Its name, which was given to distinguish it from older bridges that were lined on both sides with houses, has remained after all of those were replaced. It stands by the western (downstream) point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that was, between 250 and 225 BC, the birthplace of Paris, then known as Lutetia, and during the medieval period, the heart of the city.
The bridge is composed of two separate spans, one of five arches joining the left bank to the Île de la Cité, another of seven joining the island to the right bank. Old engraved maps of Paris show how, when the bridge was built, it just grazed the downstream tip of the Île de la Cité; since then, the natural sandbar building of a mid-river island, aided by stone-faced embankments called quais, has extended the island. Today the tip of the island is the location of the Square du Vert-Galant, a small public park named in honour of Henry IV, nicknamed the "Green Gallant".
As early as 1550, Henry II was asked to build a bridge here because the existing Pont Notre-Dame was overloaded, but the expense was too much at the time.
In February 1578, the decision to build the bridge was made by Henry III who laid its first stone in 1578, the year when the foundations of four piers and one abutment were completed. Pierre des Isles, one of the builders, convinced the supervisory commission that the bridge, which was originally straight, would be more resistant to the river currents, if its two sections were built at a slight angle, a change they adopted in May 1578.
Further design changes were made during the summer of 1579. First, the number of arches was changed from eight and four to seven and five. This was not a problem on the north side, where nothing had been built, but on the south, where the four piles and the abutment on the Left Bank were already laid, the addition of the fifth arch necessitated reducing the length of the platform on the island, the terre-plein, from 28.5 toises to about 19. Second, it was decided to allow houses to be built on the bridge (though they never were). This required the widening of the bridge. The remaining piers were built over the next nine years. After a long delay beginning in 1588, due to political unrest and to the Wars of Religion, construction was resumed in 1599 under the reign of Henry IV. The bridge was opened to traffic in 1604 and completed in July 1606. It was inaugurated by Henri IV in 1607.
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Wikipedia