Pont Saint-Michel

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Pont Saint-Michel
Pont Saint-Michel with Notre-Dame de Paris in the background
Carries	rue Saint-Denis
Crosses	River Seine
Locale	Paris, France
Design	Vaudrey, de Lagalisserie, Audrand, Rosier
Total length	62 m
Width	30 m
Opening date	1857
Coordinates	48°51′15″N 02°20′41″E / 48.85417, 2.34472

Pont Saint-Michel is a bridge linking place Saint-Michel on the Left Bank of Paris to the Île de la Cité. It was named after the nearby chapel of Saint-Michel, by the Sainte Chapelle, in the Palais de Justice. The present 62m-long bridge dates to 1857.

Pont Saint-Michel is served by the Metro station Saint-Michel.

1 History
- 1.1 The medieval bridge
2 Location
3 Gallery
4 Bibliography
5 External links

[edit] History

First built in 1378, it has been rebuilt several times, the last being in 1857.

[edit] The medieval bridge

The construction of a stone bridge was decided upon in 1378 by the Parlement de Paris after an accord with the chapter of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, the prévôt de Paris, and the city's burghers. A location for it was chosen downstream of Petit-Pont, on the line of rue Saint-Denis, from the Grand-Pont on the rive droite and of rue de la Harpe on the rive gauche. This allowed a direct route across Île de la Cité.

The prévôt de Paris, Hugues Aubriot, thus charged with overseeing the project, which was funded by the king. Construction lasted from 1379 to 1387. Once complete, the Parisians named the bridge Pont-Neuf (not to be confused with the present-day Pont-Neuf), Petit-Pont-Neuf or Pont Saint-Michel dit le Pont-Neuf.

As was common in the Middle Ages, the bridge's sides were quickly filled with houses. During the 1407-1408 winter, one of the longest and most severe known in the Middle Ages, ice carried by the frozen Seine hit the bridge, causing it to collapse together with its houses. Due to France's difficulties in the Hundred Years' War, the bridge was immediately rebuilt in wood. This material proved less resistant than the previous stone bridge and the Parlement de Paris decided in 1444 to allocate all money raised from fines to building a new stone bridge on the site.

The appearance of this second bridge is known from one miniature painting in the Heures d'Étienne Chevalier, painted by Jean Fouquet. This shows a bridge resting on high wooden piers, as well as wattle and daub or wood and plaster houses with a single level roofline along the whole length of the bridge.

The present 62m-long bridge dates to 1857 and was designed on three 17.2m arches by Paul-Martin Gallocher de Lagalisserie and Paul Vaudrey. It was the site of many of the killings of the Paris massacre of 1961.