Debilly footbridge in Paris, link between places of memory, unique views

The Debilly footbridge connects the Avenue de New York to the David Ben Gourion esplanade, in front of the Quay Branly- Jacques-Chirac Museum. It links the 16th to the 7th arrondissement. It is located 300 m from the Eiffel Tower.

Origin of the Debilly footbridge

It is named after the brigadier general of Napoleon I, Jean-Louis Debilly (1763-1806), killed at the battle of Jena.

Built at the beginning of the 20th century, it has been registered as a historical monument since April 18, 1966.

It was the general commissioner of the 1900 Universal Exhibition, Alfred Picard, who decided on October 26, 1898 to build a temporary footbridge to allow the circulation of visitors. Its construction makes it a contemporary of the Alexandre-III bridge (by the same architect Jean Résal assisted by Amédée Alby and the same manufacturer Daydé et Pillé) and the Austerlitz viaduct.

The construction of the Debilly Footbridge

The bridge is built on a metal frame resting on masonry piers near the banks, decorated with dark green Gentil & Bourdet ceramic tiles suggesting undulations.

It is a steel arch bridge, 125 m long and 8 m wide. It is exclusively reserved for pedestrians (and bicycles)

It is, with the Eiffel Tower, the second metallic structure initially temporary to have remained in place until today to testify of its time. However, in 1941, the structure was still threatened to disappear after the president of the Society of Architects described it as "a forgotten accessory of a past holiday".

Places of memory

The Passerelle Debilly allows a view in the distance, on the Sacré Coeur, and nearby on the Trocadero and its garden, the Port Debilly and the Seine at night, and finally the Eiffel Tower at sunset, lit from the West.

This footbridge Debilly has also been the location of many films:

• The Girl on the Bridge (1999). The film begins with the character of Adele, played by Vanessa Paradis, who crosses the railing of the bridge with the intention of throwing herself into the water.
• The footbridge is used as a meeting place in Femme Fatale (2002) by Brian De Palma.
• In Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film Innocents: The Dreamers, it is on the Debilly footbridge that the sister (Eva Green) evokes Jean Seberg selling the New York Herald Tribune on the Champs-Élysées in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film Breathless.
• Rappers Nekfeu and Alpha Wann of the French rap group 1995 shot part of their Monsieur Sable video there in 2011.
• The singer Jenifer also shot her video L'Amour fou there the following year.
• A love scene from the movie Les Tuche 3 (2018) was also shot there.
• A scene from episode 5 of season 4 of the TV series Ten Percent (2020) is shot on the square.

Finally, the Diana Square above the Alam Tunnel where Princess Diana accidentally died, is located 200m on the right at the exit of the Footbridge, on New York Avenue. The passage through the Passerelle Debilly is part of the traditional circuit from the Eiffel Tower to the Place Diana where the Flame of Liberty is also located.