- Pont Royal
Infobox_Bridge
bridge_name= Pont Royal
caption= A photograph of the Pont Royal and theLeft Bank taken in the evening.
official_name=
also_known_as=
carries= Motor vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles
crosses= The Seine River
locale=Paris ,France
id=
design=Arch Bridge
length= 110 m (361 feet)
width= 16 m (53 feet)
below= ?
construction dates= 1685-1689
toll= Free both ways
coordinates=coord|48|51|39|N|02|19|49|EThe Pont Royal is a
bridge crossing the riverSeine inParis . It is the third oldest bridge in Paris, after thePont Neuf and thePont Marie .Location
The Pont Royal links the
right bank andPavillon de Flore andleft bank of Paris betweenrue du Bac and therue de Beaune . The bridge is constructed with five arches "en plein cintre". A hydrographic ladder, indicating floods' highest level in Paris, is visible on the last stone heap nearest each bank.Access
History
In
1632 , the entrepreneurPierre Pidou directed the development for a wooden toll-bridge which would be called "Pont Sainte-Anne" (in reference toAnne of Austria ) or "Pont Rouge" (due to its color). It was designed to replace the Tuileries ferry upon which therue du Bac ("bac" meaning "ferry" in French) owes its name. The ferry had been offering crossings since1550 . Fragile, this bridge of five arches would be repaired for the first time in1649 , completely redone two years later, burnt in1654 , flooded in1656 , completely rebuilt in1660 , propped up in1673 and finally carried away by a flood in1684 .Madame de Sévigné reported that this last incident caused the loss of a number of the bridge's arches.It was finally reconstructed between
October 25 ,1685 , and June 13,1689 , this time with stone and receiving complete financing from the king Louis XIV, and it was the king who gave the name "Pont Royal". The Director of Building charged Jacques Gabriel,Jules Hardouin-Mansart andFrançois Romain with the construction project. In the 18th century, the bridge was a popular meeting place for various festivities and celebrations.At the time of the
French Revolution of 1789 – in the period following the fall of the monarchy on10 August 1792 and the beginning of theFirst French Empire in 1804 - the name of Pont Royal was changed to Pont National. During that period, General Napoléon Bonaparte (future Napoléon I,Emperor of the French ) had cannons installed on the bridge in order to protect theConvention Nationale and theCommittee of Public Safety , housed in theTuileries Palace.During the First French Empire (1804-1814), Napoléon I named the bridge "Pont des Tuileries", name that was kept until the
Restoration in 1814 when kingLouis XVIII gave the bridge its royal name back.The bridge underwent a last reconstruction in 1850. In 1939, it was classified as a
monument historique under the same bill as thePont Neuf and thePont Marie .In
2005 , "Pont Royal" was illuminated by lights at night as one of the Paris Olympic Bid highlights.Gallery
External links
* [http://www.paris.fr/portail/deplacements/Portal.lut?page_id=232 Pont Royal Information from the Paris city hall website]
* [http://fr.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0000222 Structure data]References
This article was mainly derived from the [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Royal French Article] of the same name.
Location
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