Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor
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The passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, formerly known as passerelle Solférino (or pont de Solférino), is a
footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...
over the
River Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...
in the
7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is known for being, along with the 16th arrondissement and the ''commune'' of Neuilly-sur-Sein ...
. It is served by the
Metro station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...
Assemblée Nationale The National Assembly (, ) 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 as () or deputies. There are 577 , each elected by ...
.


The first bridges

For a century, a
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...
bridge inaugurated by
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
in 1861 allowed vehicles to cross between
quai Anatole-France The Quai Anatole-France () is a quay on the south bank of the River Seine in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. Location At 585 meters long, the Quai Anatole-France begins after the Quai Voltaire, at the level of the Rue du Bac, and con ...
and quai des Tuileries. Built by the engineers of the
Pont des Invalides The Pont des Invalides () is the lowest bridge traversing the Seine in Paris. History The story of this bridge started in 1821, when engineer Claude Navier conceived a technologically revolutionary bridge that crossed the Seine in one single rea ...
, Paul-Martin Gallocher de Lagalisserie and
Jules Savarin Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). In the anglosphere, it is also used for females although it is still a predominantly masculine name.One of the few notable examples of a femal ...
, it was named after the June 1859 French victory of the
Battle of Solferino The Battle of Solferino (referred to in Italy as the Battle of Solferino and San Martino) on 24 June 1859 resulted in the victory of the allied Second French Empire, French army under Napoleon III and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Piedmont- ...
. Having weakened over time (particularly due to barges crashing into it), it was demolished and replaced in 1961 with a steel footbridge, which was demolished in 1992.


The present bridge

The new ''passerelle de Solférino'' linking the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
and the ''
Jardin des Tuileries The Tuileries Garden (, ) is a public garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was opened to the public i ...
'' (Tuileries Gardens) was built between 1997 and 1999 under the direction of the engineer and architect
Marc Mimram Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...
. Crossing the Seine with a single span and no piers, this metallic bridge is architecturally unique and covered in exotic woods (
ipê ''Handroanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. It consists of 30 species of trees, known in Latin America by ...
, a
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
ian tree also used for outdoor flooring at the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
) which gives it a light and warm appearance. Its solidity is, however, never in doubt - at either end, its foundations are in the form of concrete pillars extending 15m into the ground, and the structure itself is made up of six 150 tonne components built by the
Eiffel Eiffel may refer to: Places * Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France, designed by Gustave Eiffel *:* Champ de Mars – Tour Eiffel station, Metro station serving the Eiffel Tower * Eiffel Bridge, Ungheni, Moldova, designed by Gustave Eiffel * Eiffel Bri ...
engineering company, ''Eiffel Constructions métalliques''. Its innovative architecture brought Marc Mimram the award "
Prix de l'Équerre d'Argent The Prix d'architecture de l'Équerre d'argent (The Silver T-square Prize) is a French architecture award. This prize was launched in 1960 by "Architecture Française" magazine and its director Michel Bourdeau. It is given annually by Le Moniteu ...
" for the year 1999. The bridge also has benches and lampposts for promenaders who can reach the
Jardin des Tuileries The Tuileries Garden (, ) is a public garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was opened to the public i ...
through a subterranean passage 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, whereas the sout ...
. The bridge was renamed after
Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor ( , , ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese politician, cultural theorist and poet who served as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Ideologically an African socialist, Senghor was one ...
on 9 October 2006 on the centenary of his birth.


References


External links

*
Site of Marc Mimram
*

*
Mmairie de Paris site
*
Structurae: Passerelle Solférino

Satellite view on Google Maps
*
A Paris, Solférino s'efface au profit de Senghor
article on ''20 minutes''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold-Sedar-Senghor Bridges over the River Seine in Paris Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Arch bridges in France Pedestrian bridges in France 1861 establishments in France