The History of the Pont Neuf, Yesterday & Today

Pont Neuf wasn’t just the “new bridge,” it was so much more. Sure, it was the first in stone, without houses, the widest and the longest, and the first to have sidewalks in Europe. It was also the first celebrity monument in Paris. People traveled from all over Europe to see it, including Peter the Great. In 1717, Peter arrived in Paris after visiting Amsterdam to collect books, check in on Madame de Maintenon after the death of Louis XIV, and see Pont Neuf for himself. 

While people today line up to view Paris from the Eiffel Tower, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the first place people wanted to see was the Pont Neuf. Long before people bought cheap Eiffel Tower keychains that went home with paintings of the Pont Neuf, brass-and-stone miniatures, and hand fans painted with the bridge's image. The bridge ushered in the new modern age and the birth of the great city we know today. 

The bridge continues to evolve with art installations by Christo & Jeanne Claude, Kenzo, and JR. 

for more info, photos and links visit Claudinehemingway.com

Transcript

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Bonjour, bonjour, and welcome to episode 22 of Paris in Blue Blanc Rouge with Claudine Hemingway. That is me. And I am excited, as I am every week, to share another fascinating story from French history with you. And I last week and also this week, I'm also sharing something with you that is happening right now. Now, as a historian and somebody that loves all the history of Paris and that made that my life, I am always talking about things that happened long ago. And on my old podcast, we used to joke about that I would talk about all the dead people, and later in the week, Crystal would do an episode with a living person. So I was always always the uh the uh, you know, I see dead people. And so I but sometimes, you know, sometimes that's just easier. When I was younger and I was doing all this work on the family history, my mother used to say that, and I know she's listening, hi mom, that I like dead people better because I just was so engrossed in this history, and I I think that's is true even today. You know, you get a the whole story laid out uh in front of you, you know, as it takes a long time to find the whole story and a lot of research on some of these things and some of these people, but I do actually love it, and I love being able to bring it to people and share the stories, you know, hundreds of hundreds of years after it has happened. And this one today is just that as well, with a contemporary spin to it at the end. But this is a place in Paris that probably many people have seen. Yeah, pretty much if you have been to Paris, every single person has seen this bridge or they have walked on this bridge. And I don't know if people realize exactly how incredible this bridge is. And I am, of course, talking about the Pont Neuf, which is always you know described as, you know, with a caveat, is it means the new bridge, when actually it's the oldest bridge still in Paris today, but it's just a whole lot more than that, and I'm excited to share it with you. But like many great cities, Paris was born from the Seine and in the middle of a river. The one small island which held the city of Lutitia is now known as the Ile de la Cité and was a precursor of Paris. There are 37 bridges across the Seine in Paris, linking the left and the right banks together, each holding its own little slice of history. There were only two wooden bridges that linked the islands to the left and right bank for the first 800 years. More bridges were added beginning in 1378 with the Pont Saint Michel, as they were built with wood, numerous floods, river traffic, and even the deep freeze destroyed most of the bridges more than once. As the city expanded from the island, the need for another bridge was imminent. The kings had moved to the Palais de Louvre, and the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici had built her palace at the Tuileries, which also brought hundreds of courtiers, servants, and more to the center of the city, where the king goes, the businesses go, and then the people, a sixteenth century gentrification of Paris. Henry III was under the strong thumb of his mother in 1577 and launched a commission to build a new bridge at the end of the island, linking the two sides of Paris for the first time in one span. It was by far the riskiest location in the city center. The river was at its widest and the current constantly changed. It would be a project that only the king's architects could tackle. Architects Jacques and Baptiste Andre de Sarceaux began the project under the vision of Henry III, even though they also thought it was a little crazy. On may thirty first, fifteen seventy eight, Henry III laid the first stone on the left bank with his mother, that serpent queen Catherine de Medici at his side. Just days before, a duel to the death that included two of the king's closest friends and soldiers, Louis de Morillon and Jacques de Caillot, were each killed and it was devastating for the king. At the laying of the stone, the king was visibly upset and cried, giving the bridge the first nickname, the Bridge of Tears. Construction continued for eleven years until the Sixth War of Religion reached Paris and forced Henry III to retreat. On august second, 1589, Henry III was killed by a Dominican monk, launching the King and Davar, the other Henry III, onto the throne of France and becoming Henry IV, aka Hot Legs Henry. Henry IV made his grand entrance to Paris on march twenty second, fifteen ninety four and was shocked at what he found. The city was falling apart. The Louvre had been without a king since 1589, while Henry IV fought for his acceptance to the throne. The far from finished Pont Neuf wasn't more than a few piers sticking out of the Seine and work needed to resume so it wouldn't be lost forever. Ten years after the work had stopped, Hotlegs Henry called for the completion in May of 1598 with a few changes made by architect Guillon Marchand, Francois Petit, and Pierre Deless, and to pay for it, they would tax wine as it entered Paris with the proceeds regularly set aside to build fountains. A few hundred years later, an Englishman would use his money to create fountains to bring water to the drunk Parisians. It all ends up in the end. Henry removed the houses from the plan that his predecessor had imagined for one important reason. He wanted the people to have a clear view of his gallery Bordoleau, the grand gallery of the Palais de Louvre. For five years the work continued. The bridge would span across the end of the island, which was much different than what you see today. The tip of the island that includes the Pont Neuf sits on the remnants of three small islands, the Isle du Patrios to the north, the Alate de Gordon to the east, and the Isle au Birote on the south side. On june twentieth, sixteen oh three, Henry IV made his first crossing of the bridge from the convent of the Grand Augustin to the Louvre. The bridge hadn't been finished yet, only the south arm was complete and all but three arches of the north. Henry, the positive guy with a bit of royal arrogance, decided he could cross the bridge on his horse and the wooden planks to reach the right bank. Many curious Parisians couldn't wait to check out the bridge for themselves, although it ended in death after they fell into the Seine. The king ordered the bridge to be completed to suite. The bridge was finally finished on july eighth, sixteen oh six, four hundred and twenty years ago next month, and luckily before the king's untimely death on may fourteenth, sixteen ten. For more on that, listen to episode eighteen. The official inauguration was held in sixteen oh eight, but it would take another eighteen years before the entire project would be complete. 400 years ago this year in 1626, the bridge and the surrounding area were finally finished. Sitting at over 760 feet long and 72 feet wide, it was also the first paved bridge in the Western world. When the bridge was finished, it became the most popular spot in Paris. Every level of society would be found on a given day, from the aristocracy to the pimps and the prostitutes. The sidewalk, the first not only in Paris, but in all of Europe, were set up a few steps from the street, no longer fearing for your life if you walk down the street. If the police were looking for someone they knew to wait below the statue of Henry IV, at some point every single person in Paris crossed the Pont d'Ouf. The arcades between the arches were used by merchants, booksellers, and peddlers who would set up each day and carry their stock and furniture away each night. Just like Paris today, the pickpockets and thieves found the distracted shoppers easy prey. In 1776, structures were built into the arcades and managed by the Royal Academy of Paintings, a gift from Louis XV years earlier. Henri Cognac, a name you may not recognize, built an empire that began in one of these small arcades closest to the right bank. In eighteen sixty eight, under a large red umbrella, Ernest sold red knit hats and red fabric and became so successful that he opened a department store just steps away. The Samaritan opened in 1870. The Pont Neuf became the epicenter of Paris in every way. Theatrical performances were held at the center of the bridge years before the theater was built. Before we had the beloved Bouchonice, you had the Pont Neuf. The sidewalks were lined with booksellers, with as many as fifty stalls and even individuals selling books from a tray strapped around their shoulders, set up along the bridge. Ladies known as Bouquetier sold flowers and gifts to the smart gens passing over the bridge on their way home. While walking on the bridge in the day was a sheikist activity in Paris, once the sun went down, it became the original no go area and the darker side of life on the Pont Neuf came out. When the large cloaks worn by men in the 17th century became all the rage among aristocratic Parisians, the thieves would hide in the shadows and rob a passerby, only to cut the massive piece of fabric in two and resell it. They might have missed the moral of the story of Saint Martin. Built of limestone, the bridge was also the first to be decorated. Only viewed from below along the wall and lining the bridge are 381 masquerons, first conceived before 1608 and widely attributed to Germain Pilon, sculptor of the Valois family. Pilon died in 1590, but he could have possibly done a few drawings under Henry III. The 380 male masquerons are each individually created and no two are alike. They include scary faces of satyrs and sylvans, Roman gods of the forest, fawns, Greek dryads, and a few faces encircled in flowers. There is only one female, a Medusa mask at the very center looking down at the square. Some say they represent the husbands of each of Henry IV's conquests. None of the originals remain on the bridge today, a few could be found in the Carnival. The crowning decoration of the bridge is, of course, Hot Legs Henry IV himself. The idea of an equestrian statue of Henry IV was first proposed in 1604, inspired by the great effigies of Rome and the Florentine Medices, built under the orders of his wife, Marie de Medici, but his untimely murder would come before the statue was finished. It was completed in Italy in December 1611. It took two years before it left Livorno in the spring of 1613 and set out from the port of Genoa to Paris. The ship was attacked by pirates and sank off the coast of Savonia. Many months later in 1614, the wreckage was discovered and the statue was finally headed to Paris on a barge from La Harve, down the Seine, arriving on july twenty fourth, sixteen fourteen, and placed on the Pont Neuf and inaugurated on august twenty third, sixteen fourteen. Now as a remembrance to the king who was killed four years before. Sitting on a pedestal created by Marchon, the statue of Henry IV was surrounded by four captive statues that can now be seen in the Musee de Louvre in the Richelieu wing. They were designed by Pierre de Combray and carried out by his son-in-law, Francesco Bardoni, in 1618. They were finally put in place in 1635 after the base was finished. A fantastic painting by Jean-Baptiste Lalemont hangs in the Carnivalet, giving you an idea of what the statue and captives look like. I'll put a picture on my website. Like many monuments in Paris, it would not survive the revolution. It was broken and melted down, all but destroyed, and a few pieces of the statues survived, now, of course, in the Carnival. Jacques Louis David, artist and official party planner of the revolution, suggested that a statue dedicated to the people in the Place Henri Cat. It would be created by melting down many of the statues, including Henri, repurposed marble statues, and incorporating pieces like the four captives of Louis XIV. It never happened. However, this would not stop the next Megalomaniac. Napoleon Bonaparte found an empty pedestal, and of course he needed to have it filled. In 1810, the base was strengthened to hold a massive 198-foot-tall stone obelisk. Napoleon was ousted before anything could actually be built. Napoleon was barely out the door when Louis XVIII ordered an exact replica of Henri Cat and returned to Pont Neuf. Henry would rise again. On August 25th, 1818, the final statue that we still see today was inaugurated and cast from the original mold using bronze from other statues of Paris, including a statue of Napoleon once in Place Vendome. Customary at the time, four boxes were placed inside the belly of the horse to serve as a time capsule, including the one that had been placed in the base the year before. A copy of the Life of Henri Cat by Paris Fikes, printed on parchment and bound in green leather, was added along with twenty six medallions, a crystal effigy, letters, and a list of people presented on the occasion, the creation of the statue, and other books. Also inside the statue, a closely kept secret is hidden. A workman named Meznel, a loyal Bonapartist, stuffed Henri with two cylinders of anti-royalist papers while he was being built. It was a myth until 2004 when it was restored and the cylinders were found hidden in the elbow and neck, filled with the very papers. Before the restoration was finished, they returned once more and hidden inside the king. Henry stands at the bridge and looks west into the Place Dauphine, the very one he had constructed in 1607. Before the bridge was finished, the Place Dauphine was laid out. The triangle shaped royal square was named for his son, the Dauphin Louis XIII. The royal square is surrounded by structures in the Henry IV style, and a few of the original remain today. The two at the entrance at number 29 and 33 and 13, 15, and 19 on the south side still date to the first construction of the Place Dauphine. The bridge would undergo its first restoration in the 1810s and 1820s, almost completely rebuilding it. The piers holding caves were filled in and the bridge was flattened in the center of each arm and the sidewalks lowered as well. The Square de Vergalon was given the name in remembrance of Henry IV and his nickname, the Vergalon. Old Hot Legs, as you can imagine, had quite a way with the ladies. Everything you read about this nickname will say that it came from his many love affairs at his advanced age. He died at 56. I have also read and overheard many a tour guide say that Henry would take his ladies down there for romantic rendezvous. I will note again that the park was created in 1888, 278 years after his death. During the 17th and 18th century, the Seine had to be a lot cleaner than it was today. Every summer, men and women would climb down for a little swim on a hot day. Separated into their own areas, the men were able to dip and swim au naturel. Maybe they should add old Hot Legs Henry's men's swimming area back. A perfect place would be just across where the Pompier boat is docked. Under Hausman and Napoleon III, the bridge, like most of Paris, went through another transformation. The stalls and the arcades were replaced with benches, turning the bridge into a park as well as a thoroughfare. In the same period between 1853 and 1855, Victor Batard, the creator of many of the street furniture around Paris, was tasked with creating the amazing lampposts that still line the bridge today. They were designed in the memory of the Dauphin Louis XIII. The nautical themed cast iron posts include dolphins, tritons, and the heads of Neptune. They are gorgeous and are so beautifully done. Below each lamppost, a cast iron box inscribed with the allegory of the city of Paris with 1854 written on it, once held the gas valves that turned the lamps on and off, which had to be done by hand every day. I love that they leave these little reminders for us long after they fall out of use. In 2018, the basin structure beneath the statue of Henry IV underwent another inspection. It resulted in a restoration in 2021. New wrought iron grills were added along the platform and the metal grates were replaced with glass panels as a fight against those stupid locks. The walls below had shown cracks and fractured stones as well as a few of the mascarons in dire need of a facelift. Most of the work was finished by the start of 2024. One thing long gone is the water pump built on the northwestern side of the bridge. The first water pump in central Paris was built under Henry IV in 1608 after the completion of the bridge and was later known as the Samaritan Pump. Given that name from the bronze bas relief that hung above Christ at the Well of Jacob when he met the Samaritan woman who offered him a drink. At the very top of the building was an astronomical clock with a figure that came out to mark the hours as well as the months, day, and year. Sadly, nothing remains, but there are a few paintings and even a model of the later design made under Louis XIV by Robert Descotes with the relief of the Samaritan, though it no longer shows the clock. After Henry's massive reconstruction and expansion of the Palais de Louvre and the connection to the Tuileries, more water was needed, and the Samaritan pump would do just that. It was used until 1813 when it was destroyed under Napoleon as it was no longer needed. The bridge has inspired artists since its creation. Paintings can be found in the collections of the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Carnival, and the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Everyone from Monet to Renoir captured the daily crossings of the Pont Neuf. A painting by Renoir in 1872 holds the modern life of Paris with carriages and women walking alone. What a scandal. The country had barely survived the siege in 1870 in the commune in 1871 and was once again returning to normal. From a cafe window, Renoir painted in a single day while directing his friends and family to repeatedly walk into traffic so he could capture the hectic scene. I think of this painting every single time I crossed the bridge from the right bank. In 1985, a pair of contemporary artists took their turn, this time turning the bridge itself into a piece of art. Artists Christot and Jean-Claude are well known for their art installations that include draping or wrapping structures and fabric. The two, both born on June 13th, 1935, Christot in Bulgaria and Jean-Claude in Morocco, and met in Paris in 1958. It was love at first sight and the couple would spend the rest of their lives creating art all over the world. The idea to wrap the Pont Neuf in fabric began in 1975. It took 10 years to convince the city of Paris, and in the end, from September 22nd to October 7th, 1985, the northern arm of Pont Neuf was wrapped in more than 440,000 square feet of Pierre du Paris colored nylon canvas. Every element of the northern arm was wrapped, including Batards lampposts. It was held in place by 429,000 feet of nylon rope and 13 tons of steel chain. The project was self-funded by the artists and cost more than 10 million francs. On September 22nd, 2025, just last year, the Place de Pont Neuf, the home of Henri Cat, was renamed the Place de Pont Neuf Christot Jean-Claude to mark the 40th anniversary of the event. That same year, another project was to encase the Pont Neuf once again, but had to be rescheduled to this year. The Caverne de Pont Neuf, created by French artist JR, is an homage to Christot and Jean-Claude. The couple's nephew, Vladimir Yavishev, approached JR in 2023 and had an idea. JR had met Christot through Vladimir in the last years of his life and shared a love of large-scale installations. As one of the keepers of the flame of the memory of Christot and Jean-Claude, Vladimir wanted to mark the anniversary of one of their greatest works. This time, it wouldn't take ten years to convince the mayor of Paris. It only took a few months. Again, the project would be self-funded, this time by J.R. through the sale of his framed art and private donation. JR has imagined a mountain inspired by the quarries where the stone was found to build the bridge in the 16th century, visiting and photographing the limestone quarries and stone caves in Greece, and for months he brought the vision to life in his studio, creating the design that would later be printed and constructed by the Air Toile Concept Company, which would print and sew the more than 203,000 square feet of nylon in Brittany. After four months of manufacturing, including 10 large inflatable pieces that formed the structure of the 80 peaks of the cave, as well as the interior structure that will include an interactive experience involving sound and scents. JR worked with Daft Punk artist Thomas Bongletera on the interior, which promises to be amazing. It was to open on June 6th for 22 days and could hold 700 visitors at once. On May 11th, the installation began and was very exciting to visit each day as a project was born before our eyes. Boats in the Seine would anchor down the printed tarbs tightly with ropes. There is no attaching or drilling anything onto this historic structure. As the sun set on May 20th, the inflatable structure began to rise from the bridge forming the cave. It appeared that the Alps had moved into the very center of Paris. From the Pont des Arts on a clear, sunny morning, it was an incredible thing to see. Sadly, on June 2nd, after a week of high temperatures, part of the printed cover was ripped in a few minutes of the high winds and a brief storm, followed by a pelting of rain and hail. It was just four days before it was going to open to the public. The opening has been delayed while they repair the structure, and we are waiting for news of when we can visit inside. When that happens, it'll be open 24-7 until June 28th, which is the last day because they need to take it down to reopen the bridge. Of course, these projects come with a lot of opinions. In this day and age, there are many avenues for each and every person to share their thoughts and opinions online. There will never be a piece of art in the world that is loved by everyone. Sadly, we know that all too well today. I love this installation and I love it. Of the message JR conveys in each of his creations. The photos online do not do it justice. You really need to see this in person. On June 21st, 1994, fashion designer Kenzo Tecata covered the entire western downstream side of the bridge and potted flowers for the launch of his new perfume called Flowers. 32,000 pot of begonias and 42,000 ivy plants cascaded over the railings, adding a lovely scent to the air in the center of Paris. At the end, plants were given away to passers by. I hope JR incorporates a scent in the experience. I will keep you posted and hopefully it opens quickly. Pont Neuf wasn't just the new bridge, it was so much more. Sure it was a first in stone, without houses, the widest and the longest, and the first to have sidewalks in Europe. But it was also the first celebrity monument in Paris. People traveled from all over Europe to see it, including Peter the Great. Peter arrived in Paris after visiting Amsterdam to collect books, check in on Madame de Mantenal after the death of Louis XIV, and to see the Pont Neuf for himself. While people today line up to view Paris from the Eiffel Tower, in the 17th and 18th century, the first place people wanted to see when they arrived was the Pont Neuf. Long before people bought cheap Eiffel Tower keychains, they went home with paintings of the Pont Neuf, brass and stone miniatures and hand fans painted with the bridge's image. The bridge ushered in a new modern age and the birth of the great city we know today. So now when you come to Paris, make sure you go down to the Pont Neuf and walk across it and remember this. Maybe even listen to this as you walk. Or better yet, you can book a tour with me and I'll give you all the stories of all the fun things that happen on the island. But it is amazing to think of something that we probably don't even look at. And everybody says that their favorite bridge is the Pont Alexander Trois. But I've always loved the Pont Neuf. And it just has such an incredible slice of history in the city. And just to think that what happened there was really the birth of the whole modern age of Paris. It's pretty incredible. And again, Hot Legs Henry, he's our guy. Henry III started it, but it's sometimes known as the Bridge of the Three Henries because it was kind of first imagined by Henry II, the father of Henry III, and then actually brought to life by Henri Cat Hot Legs Henry. I'm gonna really try to get this started. That everybody, I'm gonna maybe the plaques on the my favorite painting in the Louvre, maybe they'll change it to Hot Legs Henry. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. And I was really hoping that with this episode episode, I was really hoping with this episode that I would have already been inside and seen the installation inside, which is supposed to just be incredible from everything we've been told, but there hasn't been any information about what it's going to look like. And hopefully it opens soon. There was even people saying that they were flying in just to see it, and of course they would be upset, but hey, you're still in Paris. But I my heart breaks for those people that have worked so hard to bring that to life. And really, it was just it was damaged in in a matter of like three minutes with the hail storm. So keep an eye on my Instagram and Facebook. And also if you don't get my newsletter, make sure you sign up for my newsletter. You can do that, Claudiemingway.com, and I'll have lots of photos. And I have even a few maps where you could see kind of the different evolution of the bridge and the end of the island. I'll put all that on my website with some links. So make sure you check that out and at Claudihemingway.com. You can also book a tour, a walking tour of Paris when you come. So I will be back next week with a story of one of the most famous ladies in the entire world.