The Pont Royal is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

crossing the river

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

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 ...

. It is the third oldest bridge in Paris, after the Pont Neuf and the

Pont Marie The Pont Marie is a bridge which crosses the Seine in Paris, France. The bridge links the Île Saint-Louis to the quai de l'Hôtel de Ville and is one of three bridges designed to allow traffic flow between the Île Saint-Louis and the Left a ...

Location

The Pont Royal links the Right Bank by the

Pavillon de Flore The Pavillon de Flore, part of the Palais du Louvre in Paris, France, stands at the southwest end of the Louvre, near the Pont Royal. It was originally constructed in 1607–1610, during the reign of Henry IV, as the corner pavilion between ...

with the Left Bank of Paris between

rue du Bac Rue du Bac is a street in Paris situated in the 7th arrondissement. The street, which is 1150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Voltaire and Anatole-France and ends at the rue de Sèvres. Rue du Bac is also the name of a station on ...

and the rue de Beaune. The bridge is constructed with five elliptical arches ''en plein cintre''. A hydrographic ladder, indicating floods' highest level in Paris, is visible on the last pier nearest each bank. Musee d'Orsay and Pont Royal, North-West view 140402 1

Musee d'Orsay and Pont Royal, North-West view 140402 1

Access

History

In 1632, the entrepreneur Pierre Pidou directed the construction of a wooden toll-bridge which would be called ''Pont Sainte-Anne'' (in deference to

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unti ...

) or ''Pont Rouge'' (due to its color). It was designed to replace the Tuileries ferry upon which the

(''bac'' meaning ''ferry'' in French) owes its name. The ferry had been offering crossings since 1550. Fragile, this bridge of fifteen arches would be repaired for the first time in 1649, completely redone two years later, burnt in 1654, flooded in 1656, completely rebuilt in 1660, propped up in 1673 and finally carried away by a flood in February 1684.

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

reported that this last incident caused the loss of eight of the bridge's arches. The bridge was finally reconstructed between 25 October 1685 and 13 June 1689, this time with stone, receiving complete financing from King

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 ...

. It was the king who gave it the name ''Pont Royal''. Louvois, director of the

Bâtiments du Roi The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtiments ...

, charged

Jacques Gabriel Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

Jules Hardouin-Mansart Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Grand T ...

and

François Romain François Romain, also known by his Flemish name Francis Rooman or his latinised name Franciscus Romanus (Ghent 22 March 1646 – Paris 7 January 1737), was an engineer-architect who was professed as a lay brother Dominican friar. By commission ...

with the construction project. In the 18th century, the bridge was a popular meeting place for various festivities and celebrations. Paris-PontRoyal-PontRouge

At the time of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, in the period following the fall of the monarchy on 10 August 1792 and the beginning of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

in 1804 - the name of Pont Royal was changed to Pont National. During that period, General

Napoléon Bonaparte 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 ...

(future Napoléon I, Emperor of the French) had cannons installed on the bridge in order to protect the

Convention Nationale The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

and the

Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (french: link=no, Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. S ...

, housed in the Tuileries Palace. During the First French Empire (1804-1814), Napoléon I renamed the bridge the ''Pont des Tuileries'', a name that was kept until the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1814 when

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

gave back to the bridge its royal name. The bridge underwent a last reconstruction in 1850. In 1939, it was classified as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

''. Pont-Royal In 2005, the ''Pont Royal'' was illuminated by lights at night as one of the Paris Olympic Bid highlights.

Gallery

File:Paris-PontRoyal-1686.jpg, Construction of the bridge in 1686 File:Paris-PontRoyal-1687.jpg, Construction of the bridge in 1687 File:Le Pont Royal et le Pavillon de Flore, 1814 - BnF.jpg, The bridge and the

in 1814 File:Paris-PontRoyal-1850.jpg, The Pont Royal in 1850 File:Pont_Royal_vu_de_la_passerelle_Solférino-20050628.jpg, View from the Passerelle Solférino File:Pont Royal and Musée d'Orsay, Paris 10 July 2020.jpg, Pont Royal and Musée d'Orsay File:France_Paris_Pont_Royal_01.JPG File:France_Paris_Pont_Royal_02.JPG File:France_Paris_Pont_Royal_04.JPG

References

This article was mainly derived from the French Article of the same name.

External links

* {{in lang, fr}
Pont Royal Information from the Paris city hall website
Royal, Pont Royal Royal, Pont Royal Monuments historiques of Paris Tourist attractions in Paris Buildings and structures in the 1st arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Royal, Pont Royal

Royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...