The Pont Notre-Dame is a bridge that crosses 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
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
linking the ''quai de Gesvres'' on the
Rive Droite
The Rive Droite (, ''Right Bank'') is most commonly associated with the river Seine in central Paris. Here, the river flows roughly westwards, cutting the city into two parts. When facing downstream, the northern bank is to the right, and the sout ...
with the ''quai de la Corse'' on the
Île de la Cité
Île de la Cité (; English: City Island) is an island in the river Seine in the center of Paris. In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the Roman governor. In 508, Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace ...
. The bridge is noted for being the "most ancient" in Paris, in the sense that, while the oldest bridge in Paris that is ''in its original state'' is undoubtedly the
Pont Neuf
The Pont Neuf (, "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 was, between 250 and 225 BC, ...
, a bridge in some form has existed at the site of the Pont Notre-Dame since antiquity;
nonetheless, it has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times, a fact referred to in the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
inscription on it to honor its
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
architect,
Fra Giovanni Giocondo
Giovanni Giocondo, Order of Friars Minor, (c. 1433 – 1515) was an Italian friar, architect, antiquary, archaeologist, and classical scholar.
Biography
Giovanni Giocondo was born in Verona around 1433. He joined the Dominican Order at the ...
. (
See below.) The bridge once was lined with approximately sixty houses, the weight of which caused a collapse in 1499.
History
![Destruction_of_the_houses_on_Pont_Notre_Dame_in_1786_by_Hubert_Robert_1733_1808](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Destruction_of_the_houses_on_Pont_Notre_Dame_in_1786_by_Hubert_Robert_1733_1808.jpg)
It was on this spot that the first bridge of Paris, called the Grand-Pont, crossed the Seine from antiquity.
A bridge has existed there since at least the pre-Roman tribal era, to be rebuilt again and again, sometimes of wood, sometimes of stone. In 886, during the siege of Paris and the Norman attacks, the Roman stone structure was destroyed and replaced by a different bridge, possibly a plank bridge, named the Pont des Planches de Milbray (Milbray plank bridge),
although the exact timing, placement, and existence of this particular plank bridge is contested. Two wooden bridges (at the place of the Grand Pont and Petit Pont) are said to have been burned in 1111. These bridges were replaced by Louis the Fat (
Louis VI) with the two famous stone bridges as depicted in the ''
Life of Saint Denis'', which were then destroyed in the flood of 1296 and the wooden bridge which then replaced the stone Grand Pont was destroyed by the floods of 1406.
On May 31, 1412,
Charles VI of France
Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (french: le Fol or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic ...
ordered the construction of the first version of the bridge to be named "Notre-Dame".
This structure was composed of solid wood and connected the
Île de la Cité
Île de la Cité (; English: City Island) is an island in the river Seine in the center of Paris. In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the Roman governor. In 508, Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace ...
to the rue Saint-Martin. The bridge took seven years to build and had sixty houses atop it, thirty on each side. The houses were noted by Robert Gauguin as being "remarkable for their height, and the uniformity of construction" and was called the "handsomest in France."
King Charles' wooden bridge collapsed on October 25, 1499 near 9 a.m., likely due to structural instabilities caused by the lack of repairs.
Stone foundations were laid for a new bridge that same year, while a ferry filled the transportation void.
This time, the bridge was built with stone, as an
arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
under the direction of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, scholar and
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...
,
Fra Giovanni Giocondo
Giovanni Giocondo, Order of Friars Minor, (c. 1433 – 1515) was an Italian friar, architect, antiquary, archaeologist, and classical scholar.
Biography
Giovanni Giocondo was born in Verona around 1433. He joined the Dominican Order at the ...
, who had also overseen the building of the
Petit Pont
Petite or petite may refer to:
*Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans
* ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua
* Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type
*Petit four
* Petit Gâteau
*P ...
.
The construction was completed in 1507, still overhung with sixty stone and brick buildings all built to one tall gabled design, and would become a spot of frequent commerce and trading: here was located the tiny boutique of the ''
marchand-mercier
A ''marchand-mercier'' is a French term for a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen but carefully constrained by the regulations of a ''corporation'' under rules codified in 1613. The reduplicative term literally mean ...
''
Edme-François Gersaint
Edmé-François Gersaint (1694–1750) was a Parisian ''marchand-mercier'' (merchant) who specialised in the sale of works of art and luxury goods and who is noted for revolutionising the art market by preparing, for the first time, detailed cata ...
, a leading Parisian art dealer,
whose shop-sign was painted by
Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...
. The houses upon the bridge were the first to be given numbers.
In 1660 the bridge was refurbished to honour the arrival in Paris of the daughter of the king
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered f ...
,
Maria Theresa of Spain
Maria Theresa of Spain ( es, María Teresa de Austria; french: Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal a ...
who became queen of France by marrying
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
.
Between 1746 and 1788 the houses along the bridge were demolished for sanitary purposes and because of the danger the structures caused to the bridge's stability.
In 1853, a new stone structure was completed atop the existing stone foundation, although this reincarnation was only composed of five arches. The new bridge was subsequently the cause of not fewer than thirty-five water traffic accidents between 1891 and 1910 and was given the unofficial name the ''pont du Diable'' (Devil's Bridge). Thus, in order to facilitate the passage of boats and the flow of the Seine, a decision was made to rebuild the bridge, this time in metal. The new work was directed by
Jean Résal
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* J ...
, who had also worked on the
Pont Mirabeau
The pont Mirabeau in Paris was built between 1895 and 1897. It was listed a historical monument in 1975.
Geography
The bridge spans the Seine from the 15th arrondissement (left bank), to the 16th arrondissement. It links rue de la Convention ...
and
Pont Alexandre III
The Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine in Paris. It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city. ...
; it was inaugurated in 1919 by
Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (, ; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France.
Trained in law, Poincaré was elected deputy in 1 ...
, President of the French Republic. The structure has remained the same since.
Inscription
Beneath one of the arches, there is a
distich
A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
from Italian poet
Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples.
He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic '' Arcadia'', a masterwork ...
, best known for his master-work ''
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
'', which depicted an idyllic land. The inscription reads:
This quote translates as "Joconde (Giacondo) put up this twin bridge here for you,
Sequana In Gallo-Roman religion, Sequana is the goddess of the river Seine, particularly the springs at the source of the Seine, and the Gaulish tribe the Sequani. The springs, called the ''Fontes Sequanae'' ("The Springs of Sequana"), are located in a va ...
; you are able to speak of this priest with authority" or "in this you can swear that he was the bridge-builder", punning on two possible meanings of ''
pontifex
A pontiff (from Latin ''pontifex'') was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term "pontiff" was late ...
''. This refers to the architect, Fra Giovanni Giocondo, and the numerous bridges that had been built earlier upon that spot.
Art
* Each of the bridge's arches carries a head of
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
carved in stone. Additionally, its piles are decorated on each side with a ram's head.
In the niches along the arches there are statues of
Saint Louis,
Henri IV
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
,
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
, and
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
.
* In 1756, during the bridge's commercial peak,
Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Raguenet painted ''La joute de mariniers entre le pont Notre-Dame et le Pont-au-Change'' (Jousting of the mariners between the Pont Notre-Dame and the
Pont-au-Change
The Pont au Change is a bridge over the Seine River in Paris, France. The bridge is located at the border between the 1st arrondissement of Paris, first and 4th arrondissement of Paris, fourth arrondissements. It connects the Île de la Cité fro ...
), which shows the buildings built atop the bridge.
* In 1856, colour-blind artist
Charles Meryon
Charles Meryon (sometimes Méryon, 23 November 1821 – 14 February 1868) was a French artist who worked almost entirely in etching, as he had colour blindness. Although now little-known in the English-speaking world, he is generally recognise ...
etched "L'Arche du pont Notre-Dame" (The arch of Pont Notre-Dame).
Access
The Pont Notre-Dame is centrally located in Paris'
4th arrondissement, connecting the
Île de la Cité
Île de la Cité (; English: City Island) is an island in the river Seine in the center of Paris. In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the Roman governor. In 508, Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace ...
, one of the two natural islands on the Seine within the city limits, to the
Rive Droite
The Rive Droite (, ''Right Bank'') is most commonly associated with the river Seine in central Paris. Here, the river flows roughly westwards, cutting the city into two parts. When facing downstream, the northern bank is to the right, and the sout ...
(french: Right Bank).
References
External links
InseculaDatabase entry for Pont Notre-Dame.
{{Authority control
Notre-Dame
Notre Dame
Buildings and structures in the 4th arrondissement of Paris
Tourist attractions in Paris
1919 establishments in France