Concorde Bridge, a bridge mixed with history

Concorde Bridge: where is it located?

The Concorde Bridge crosses the Seine river between the Tuileries quay (Place de la Concorde) and the Orsay quay (in front of the National Assembly, close to the Musée d'Orsay). With the Place de la Concorde and the Rue Royale, it is part of the axis linking the National Assembly, Left Bank, to the Madeleine church, Right Bank.

Car traffic on the Concorde bridge is one of the heaviest of all bridges in Paris.

The Pont de la Concorde mingled with the history of France

The project of a bridge dates from 1725, to replace a ferry. It comes to life again in 1787, 2 years before the start of the Révolution.

It is also a bridge steeped in history, from its original construction in the midst of revolutionary turmoil, since it was completed in 1791, and with the stones taken down from the Bastille prison.

But it is also history that has led it to be called "Louis-XVI bridge", "bridge of the Revolution", "bridge of the Concorde", again "Louis-XVI bridge" during the Restoration (1814), and definitively "bridge of the Concorde" since 1830.

It is still history when Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1810, had statues placed in honor of eight generals who died on the field of honor during the campaigns of the First Empire.

During the Restoration (1814), these generals were replaced by a set of twelve monumental statues in white marble representing 4 great ministers, 4 soldiers, and 4 sailors of the Ancien Régime. But this set was too heavy for the bridge, and King Louis-Philippe 1st had these statues removed and transferred to Versailles. At present, the statues were scattered between Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan (Navy school), École navale de Brest, Rosny-sur-Seine,  Saint-Omer, Richelieu,  Tourville-sur-Sienne.

In October 1896, on the occasion of their visit to France, the Russian tsar Nicolas II and his wife Alexandra passed by the Concorde bridge, the route having to lead them to the Russian embassy.

Again the story: the Pont de la Concorde, and its surroundings, is the site of clashes during the crisis of February 6, 1934, which brought face-to-face rioters from the right and left. These clashes took place in an appalling mess and were the result of the economic crisis of 1929, the rise of extremists (fascism), financial scandals (the Stavisky affair) in which politicians of the 3rd Republic were involved. Officially, 14 people were killed and 657 injured.

A history panel on the Concorde Bridge is located on the Quay d'Orsay side of the National Assembly.

A variable geometry bridge

Built at the end of the 18th century, completed during the Revolution of 1789, the Concorde Bridge had then a roadway of 8.75 m wide and two sidewalks of 3 m. In 1925, a large part of the car traffic that used to take the Alexandre-III bridge was transferred to the Concorde bridge. The roadway was widened to 13.50 m and the sidewalks were virtually eliminated, replaced downstream by a pedestrian bridge.

The final contract for the widening of the Concorde Bridge was approved on March 1, 1929, and the work was completed between 1930 and 1932. The final width of the structure will be 35 m with a 21 m carriageway (like that of the Alexandre-III Bridge) and two 7 m sidewalks. Engineers Deval and Malet nevertheless took care to preserve the original neoclassical architecture.

Its last renovation dates back to 1983.

Current technical characteristics of the Concorde Bridge

Arch bridge, made of stone and reinforced concrete, length 153 m, width 34 m

It has been listed as a historical monument since June 12, 1975.