AttractionsParis - The LouvreIle-de-FranceNear to Pont des Arts Bridge in Paris
The Pont des Arts (Bridge of the Arts) footbridge linking the Louvre and the Institut de France, is an absolute must on any walking tour from the Right Bank to the Left Bank. The bridge with the cast iron arches and azobé timber decking affords a breathtaking panorama of Paris from the vantage point of the Seine. The Pont des Arts has inspired artists and poets with Gorges Brassens famously celebrating it in his song Le Vent with words of warning to mam'zelles whose skirts may be blown up by a cheeky wind on crossing the Pont des Arts. Then, there's Emile Zola who marvelled: "High up on its iron girders, with a lightness of black lace, animated by the constant comings and goings of pedestrians, march a cavalcade of ants on the fine line of her apron" (L’Œuvre, 1885).The above passage testifies to the fragility of the bridge. In fact, a part of the bridge collapsed in 1979. After much debate, it was decided to rebuild the Pont des Arts on the model of the original bridge built between 1802 and 1804 by Jacques de Lacroix Dillon. Louis Arretche began work on the Pont des Arts we know today. It was inaugurated in 1984 by Jacques Chirac, then mayor of Paris.
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