Pont des Arts

Pont des Arts
View from right bank of the Seine river.
Official name	Pont des Arts
Other name(s)	Pedestrian Bridge
Carries	Pedestrians
Crosses	The Seine River
Locale	Paris, France
Design	Arch Bridge
Material	steel
Total length	155m
Width	11m (36 feet)
Clearance below	?
Toll	Free both ways
Coordinates	48°51′30″N 2°20′15″E

The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the Seine River. It links the Institut de France and the central square (cour carrée) of the palais du Louvre, (which had been termed the "Palais des Arts" under the First Empire).

History

Between 1802 and 1804, under the reign of Napoleon I, a nine-arch metallic bridge for pedestrians was constructed at the location of the present day Pont des Arts: this was the first metal bridge in Paris. The engineers Louis-Alexandre de Cessart and Jacques Dillon initially conceived of a bridge which would resemble a suspended garden, with trees, banks of flowers, and benches.

In 1976, the Inspector of Bridges and Causeways (Ponts et Chaussées) reported several deficiencies on the bridge. More specifically, he noted the damage that had been caused by two aerial bombardments sustained during World War I and World War II and the harm done from the multiple collisions caused by boats. The bridge would be closed to circulation in 1977 and, in 1979, suffered a 60 metre collapse after a barge rammed into it.

The present bridge was built between 1981 and 1984 "identically" according to the plans of Louis Arretche, who had decided to reduce the number of arches from nine to seven, allowing the look of the old bridge to be preserved while realigning the new structure with the Pont Neuf. On 27 June 1984, the newly reconstructed bridge was inaugurated by Jacques Chirac – then the mayor of Paris.

The bridge has sometimes served as a place for art exhibitions, and is today a studio en plein air for painters, artists and photographers who are drawn to its unique point of view. The Pont des Arts is also frequently a spot for picnics during the summer.

The Argentinian writer, Julio Cortázar, talks about this bridge in his book "Rayuela". When Horacio Oliveira goes with the pythia and this tells him that the bridge for La Maga is the "Ponts des Arts".

In recent years, many tourist couples have taken to attaching padlocks with their first names written or engraved on it to the railing or the grate on the side of the bridge, then throwing the key into the river below, as a romantic gesture. The City of Paris has not yet adopted a definitive policy on how to deal with this new fad.

Gallery

On the bridge, view on the Institut de France  view from the right bank  Love padlocks on the bridge, view on the Louvre side  Painting of Stanislas Lepine (1875)

Access

___	Located near the metro station: Louvre - Rivoli.

Film and television appearances

Due to its recognizable nature, the bridge has been featured in numerous films and television shows:

• Le Pont des Arts is a French film directed by Eugène Green, with Natacha Régnier and Denis Podalydès. The film is a love story which tells the impossible tale of two youths who have never before met. The action unrolls in Paris between 1979 and 1980, in other words it occurs during the collapsing of the bridge. The film was presented in 2004 at the 57th Locarno International Film Festival.
• It is featured in the 2001 French film Amelie, in the scene where Amelie has her revelation and decides to do good deeds for people who merit it.
• It is featured in the last episode of Sex and the City.
• It is featured on the August 3, 2011 episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
• In 2010 some Gossip Girl episodes took place at the bridge
• The commercial of 'Tresor" by Lancôme directed by Peter Lindbergh and starring Kate Winslet was filmed there.
• It is featured In 2010 in the American remake of the French movie "LOL : Laughing Out Loud" with Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore.
• It is featured in the 1932 French movie "Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux" with Michel Simon.
• It is mentioned in the 2011 computer animated feature A Monster in Paris.
• It appears in the French reality television show, Amazing Race, where teams had to perform a task there.
• Features in the John Mayer music video to 'Something Like Olivia'

Quotation

View of the Pont des Arts from the pont du Carrousel.

Art historian Kenneth Clark is credited with writing about the Ponts des Arts in his book Civilisation:

"I am standing on the Pont des Arts in Paris. On the one side of the Seine is the harmonious, reasonable facade of the Institute of France, built as a college in about 1670. On the other bank is the Louvre, built continuously from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century: classical architecture at its most splendid and assured. Just visible upstream is the Cathedral of Notre Dame --not perhaps the most lovable of cathedrals, but the most rigorously intellectual façade in the whole of Gothic art. [...]

What is civilisation? I do not know. I can't define it in abstract terms --yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it: and I am looking at it now."

Kenneth Clark, Civilisation (1969).

Songs

Georges Brassens in the song Le Vent (The Wind) from the album Les Amoureux des bancs publics (Lovers on Public Benches) published in 1954 evokes the strong wind which blows across the bridge :

Si, par hasard, (If by accident,)

Sur l'pont des Arts, (On the Pont des Arts,)

Tu croises le vent, le vent fripon, (You meet the wind, the mischievous wind,)

Prudence, prends garde à ton jupon ! (Prudence, guard your petticoat !)

Si, par hasard (If by accident,)

Sur l'pont des Arts (On the Pont des Arts,)

Tu croises le vent, le vent maraud (You meet the wind, the marauding wind,)

Prudent, prends garde à ton chapeau ! (Prudent, guard your hat !)

St. Germain (musician) released a song called 'Pont Des Arts' in 2002

External links

• (French) Pont des Arts from the City Hall of Paris site (Archive)
• (French) Insecula
• (English) Pont des Arts on Structurae

Location

Bridge location on the Seine:

Bridge location
Downstream: Pont du Carrousel		Upstream: Pont Neuf