Gignac Bridge

Gignac Bridge (French: "Pont de Gignac") carries the N109 road over the Hérault River, 1 km west of the town of Gignac in the Hérault "département" of France. It is described by a plaque on the side as "Judged the most beautiful bridge of the 18th century", a view shared by the Michelin Green Guide which describes it as "considered to be the finest 18C bridge in France because of its daring design and the beauty of its architectural lines." [cite book
title = Green Guide:Languedoc, Rousillon, Tarn Gorges
publisher = Michelin et Cie
date =1998
pages =192
id =ISBN 2061366023]

Gignac Bridge has been protected since 1950 as a "monument historique" by the French Ministry of Culture.

The bridge has three arches and is constructed from dressed limestone. Its dimensions are: length 174.76 m; height 20.64 m; width 9.80 mcite news
title = Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel
publisher = French Ministry of Culture
date =
url = http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=INSEE&VALUE_1=34114&NUMBER=76&GRP=0&REQ=%28%2834114%29%20%3aINSEE%20%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=9&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=100&MAX3=100&DOM=Tous
accessdate = 2007-04-24 ] (respectively, approximately 573, 68 and 32 feet.) The side arches span 25.97 m each and the central arch spans 50.72 m. [PDFlink| [http://www.cnisf.org/ECCE/Bridges.pdf CNISF.org] ] |3.51 MiB ]

Construction began in 1776 to plans drawn up by the engineer Bertrand Garipuy, then Director of Public Works in the Languedoc province. He was succeeded by his nephew, Ducros, in 1782. The foundations and the side arches were in place by 1784. Delayed by the French Revolution, the bridge was finally completed by chief engineers Billoin and Fontenay in 1810.

The building of the A750 motorway, and the opening on 11 June 2008 of the Languedoc Bridge [ [http://www.languedoc-roussillon.equipement.gouv.fr/article.php3?id_article=202 "A750 - A75/Juvignac - Pont du Languedoc"] DRE Languedoc-Roussillon website, accessed 16 July 2008] , a few hundred metres downstream, has removed much of the traffic which previously used the Gignac Bridge.

External links

* [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=INSEE&VALUE_1=34114&NUMBER=76&GRP=0&REQ=%28%2834114%29%20%3aINSEE%20%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=9&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=100&MAX3=100&DOM=Tous Gignac Bridge on the Ministry of Culture website] fr
* [http://perso.orange.fr/ville-gignac/Tourisme_MO_PG.htm Article on the Gignac website] fr

References

Notes

* [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=INSEE&VALUE_1=34114&NUMBER=76&GRP=0&REQ=%28%2834114%29%20%3aINSEE%20%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=9&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=100&MAX3=100&DOM=Tous www.culture.gouv.fr] , accessed 24 Apr 2007