Pont de l'Alma

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Pont de l'Alma
Pont de l'Alma, illuminated at night
Official name	Pont de l'Alma
Crosses	Seine
Locale	Paris, France
Design	Arch Bridge
Total length	153 m (502 ft)
Width	42 m (138 ft)
Coordinates	48°51′51″N, 02°18′06″E

Pont de l'Alma (Alma Bridge in English) is an arch bridge in Paris, crossing the Seine. It was named to commemorate the Battle of Alma during the Crimean War, in which the Franco-British alliance achieved victory over the Russian army on September 20, 1854.

1 History
2 Technical specifications
3 Access
4 Location
5 External links

[edit] History

The initial construction of the bridge took place between 1854 and 1856. It was inaugurated by Napoleon III on 2 April 1856. At the time, each of the four piers of the bridge was decorated with a statue of military nature: a zouave and a grenadier, by Georges Diébolt, and a skirmisher and an artillery, both sculpted by Arnaud.

[edit] Zouave and Floods

For Parisians, the bridge serves as a measuring instrument for water levels and a dam in times of flooding on the Seine. Access to the footpaths by the river embankments usually is closed when the Seine's level reaches the feet of the Zouave statue, and when the water hits the statue's thighs, the river becomes unnavigable. During the great flood of the Seine in 1910, the level reached to the shoulders of the Zouave.

The French Civil Service, however, officially uses the Pont de la Tournelle to gauge the flood levels — not the Pont de l'Alma.

[edit] 1970 Reconstruction

The bridge underwent complete reconstruction between 1970 and 1974, as it was too narrow to accommodate the increasing traffic both on and below it; moreover, the structure had subsided some 80 centimeters over time. After the reconstruction, only the statue of the Zouave was preserved. The Skirmisher was relocated to the Gravelle Stronghold in Vincennes, the Grenadier to Dijon, and the Artillery to La Fère.

[edit] Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

The bridge is close to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel where Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed were fatally injured in a car accident on August 31, 1997. The Flame of Liberty at the bridge's north end has become an unofficial memorial to her.