File:The_western_sides_of_the_Île_de_la_Cité_and_the_Pont_Neuf,_14_July_2008.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Pont Neuf
Sign in to savebridge across the Seine in Paris
Key facts
- Crosses
- River Seine
- Locale
- Paris, France
- Next upstream
- Pont au Change , Pont Saint-Michel
- Next downstream
- Pont des Arts
- Design
- Arch bridge
- Material
- Stone
- Total length
- 232 metres (761 ft)
- Width
- 22 metres (72 ft)
- Number span no of spans
- 7 + 5
- Designer
- Believed to be Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau and Guillaume Marchand, maintenance engineering by Soufflot, Perronet, Lagalisserie and Résal
via Wikipedia infobox
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Pont Neuf ( French pronunciation: [pɔ̃ nœf], "New Bridge" ) is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. It stands by the western (downstream) point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that between 250 and 225 BC was the birthplace of Paris (then known as Lutetia). During the medieval period, the Île was 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 that the newly built bridge 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".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pont Neuf” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.