The Pont des Arts (Arts or gateway) is a bridge linking the Institute of France and the courtyard of the Palais du Louvre. The Pont des Arts is listed monument since March 17, 1975.
Servant sometimes as an exhibition, today is a place attracting painters, illustrators and photographers for his unique perspective on the Louvre, the Pont-Neuf, the Palais de Justice the arrow in Sainte-Chapelle and the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. In the evening, the Pont des Arts has become a meeting place for sharing privileged Parisians who gather on the sunny hours for picnics and other aperitifs end of day prior to party until late at night (is not it Delphine?). The Pont des Arts is a destination in itself and not simply a convenient way to cross the Seine.
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The Pont des Arts has inspired many artists. Among them ...
Famous Georges Brassens whose song "The Wind" begins with the words: "If by chance on the Pont des Arts" ...
Or Benedict Bizarre
Television advertising for perfume Trésor by Lancôme, conducted by Peter Lindbergh, features Kate Winslet on the Pont des Arts.
Many couples around the world vowing eternal love to have the habit of setting padlock engraved with their names on the deck railing Arts in Paris and the key thrown into the Seine, a mode whose scale is problematic for mayor of Paris. More than 1,600 "love locks" of all sizes adorned the railings of the bridge. The names of the signatories of these locks came from all over the world. In Paris, the influx of these locks has even begun to spill Bridge on the diocese and the Gateway Leopold Senghor.
Believing that this mode raises the question of heritage preservation, "the mayor of Paris said that" ultimately, these locks will be removed. "We are working on an alternative, why not some sort of metal tree that would provide support to these locks," added the mayor.
Michel - Artist on the Pont des Arts
A little history:
By a decree of March 15, 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to build a bridge between the Louvre and the College des Quatre Nations today the Institut de France. This achievement marks the introduction in France of a new building material, iron. It is then the third bridge of its kind in the world after those of Coalbrookdale and Sunderdale England.
Napoleon himself presides over the choice of material and assigned the project to the engineer Louis-Alexandre de Cessart. The decision to build iron is clearly political. It aimed to encourage research and investment in this new material put out by British industry. The selected design is that of a light bridge "for passing off." The plans will then be modified by Jacques Dillon, who replace the cast iron. Started in August 1801, the bridge was inaugurated November 24, 1803. Since the Louvre was then known as Palace of Arts, he was named "Pont des Arts".
Simple pedestrian bridge pier between the right and the left bank of the Seine, bridge, elevated compared to the docks to ensure the template navigation, then consisted of a wooden floor 10 meters wide and nine arches with a span of 18.50 m each resting on piles of masonry. Like most bridges of that era, it was a toll bridge that does not stop him from being immediately adopted by Parisians. The first day open to the public, there were the passage of 64 000 people, then the daily flow has stabilized around 11 000 passers. Very quickly, the Pont des Arts has become a popular promenade. In 1848, the toll of a penny ever.
If the bridge Arts immediately captivated the Parisian population, it has not been the same with Bonaparte lamented the lack of monumentality of the metal structure: "It has no appearance of solidity that bridge is nothing grand, I understand that in England, where stone is scarce, we use the iron for large arcs, but in France, where everything abounds ... " Napoleon's comment about the strength of the bridge proved correct, but ... over a century and a half later! It was indeed closed to the public in 1977 because its structure is too small and weakened by bombing during the two world wars and more damaged by 2 boat accidents in 1961 and 1970. It collapsed in 1979 following a fatal shock with a barge.
In 1982, we begin to rebuild the bridge by taking the look of the original book, but steel and reducing the number of arches, arches 7 instead of 9, so as to align with those of the Pont Neuf. The wood floors, benches and shrubs are trying to recreate the charm of the walk home which is still one of the points of view the most attractive of the capital. On June 27, 1984, the new bridge was inaugurated by the Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac.
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