The Pont de la Concorde is an arch bridge across the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...

in Paris connecting the

Quai des Tuileries The Quai des Tuileries is a quay on the Right Bank of the River Seine in Paris, France, along the stretch close to where the Palais du Louvre and the Quai François Mitterrand The Quai François Mitterrand is a quay by the River Seine i ...

at the Place de la Concorde (on the Rive Droite) and the Quai d'Orsay (on the Rive Gauche). It has formerly been known as the "Pont Louis XVI", "Pont de la Révolution", "Pont de la Concorde", "Pont Louis XVI" again during the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

(1814); in 1830, its name was changed again to Pont de la Concorde, the name it has retained to this day. It is served by the

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

stations

Assemblée nationale The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

and Concorde.

Situation

The bridge is located on the border between the

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

and

8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' ("the eighth"). The arrondissement, ...

. The Pont Alexandre III is the next bridge downstream; the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor is the next bridge upstream.

History

Construction

The architect

Jean-Rodolphe Perronet Jean-Rodolphe Perronet (27 October 1708 – 27 February 1794) was a French architect and structural engineer, known for his many stone arch bridges. His best known work is the Pont de la Concorde (1787). Early life Perronet was born in Suresne ...

was commissioned in 1787 with this new bridge. It had been planned since 1755, when construction of "place Louis XV" (now "place de la Concorde") began, to replace the ferry that crossed the river at that point. Construction continued in the midst of the turmoil of the French Revolution, using the

dimension stone Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished (e.g., trimmed, cut, drilled, ground, or other) to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements. A ...

s taken from the demolished Bastille (taken by force on 14 July 1789) for its masonry. It was completed in 1791.

19th century

In 1810,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

placed along the sides of the bridge the statues of eight French generals killed in battle during the campaigns of the First French Empire. On the

these were replaced with twelve monumental marble statues, including four of the "grands ministres" ( Suger, Sully,

Richelieu Richelieu (, ; ) may refer to: People * Cardinal Richelieu (Armand-Jean du Plessis, 1585–1642), Louis XIII's chief minister * Alphonse-Louis du Plessis de Richelieu (1582–1653), French Carthusian bishop and Cardinal * Louis François Armand ...

, Colbert), four royal generals (

Du Guesclin Bertrand du Guesclin ( br, Beltram Gwesklin; 1320 – 13 July 1380), nicknamed "The Eagle of Brittany" or "The Black Dog of Brocéliande", was a Breton knight and an important military commander on the French side during the Hundred Years' ...

, Bayard, Condé, Turenne) and four sailors ( Duguay-Trouin, Duquesne, Suffren, Tourville). However, this collection of statues proved too heavy for the bridge, and

Louis-Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

had them removed and transferred to Versailles.

20th–21st centuries

Traffic across the bridge became very congested and the bridge had to be widened on both sides between 1930 and 1932, doubling the width of the original bridge. The engineers Deval and Malet nevertheless took care to preserve the neoclassical architecture of the original. It was renovated one last time in 1983. Today, this bridge bears the brunt of Paris's road traffic (except for those of the

Boulevard Périphérique The Boulevard Périphérique (), often called the Périph', is a controlled-access dual-carriageway ring road in Paris, France. With a few exceptions (see '' Structure and Layout''), it is situated along Paris's administrative limit. The spee ...

References

External links

Satellite image on Google Maps
{{8th arrondissement of Paris Concorde, Pont de la Concorde (Paris) Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris Concorde, Pont de la Concorde (Paris) Concorde, Pont de la Concorde (Paris) Concorde, Pont de la Concorde (Paris) Stone arch bridges