Mirabeau bridge, the name of an ambiguous revolutionary

Mirabeau Bridge: a great name of the revolution

The Mirabeau bridge spans the Seine river from the 15th arrondissement (located on the left bank of the Seine) to the 16th arrondissement. It connects Rue de la Convention and the Pont-Mirabeau traffic circle, on the left bank, to Place de Barcelone and Rue de Rémusat, on the right bank. It is about 1 km south west of the Eiffel-Tower and the Trocadero.

Classified Historic Monument since 1975.

Origin of the name

It honors the writer, tribun of the French Revolution Honoré-Gabriel Riquetti de Mirabeau (1749-1791). He was a nobleman from Aix-en-Provence, physically handicapped and ugly, who had made himself the representative of the Third State (not noble, not clergy) during the revolution. He remained famous for his revolutionary speeches and especially his response to the representatives of King Louis XVI who had come to evacuate the deputies from their meeting room: "Go and tell those who sent you that we are hereby the will of the people, and that we will only be torn from it by the power of bayonets." Note that the exact answer is slightly different and longer.

The true life of Mirabeau

He died on April 2, 1791, of illness (from his abuse, most probably, because he had a life of debauchery). Buried in the Pantheon which has just been "created", he remained there only until September 21, 1794. It follows the discovery of contacts he had with King Louis XVI and his court. He had a double discourse, revolutionary on the one hand and adviser to the king on the other. In fact, he was trying to establish a constitutional monarchy while avoiding the excesses of the Revolution - while preserving his interests which was to become a minister later on.

Construction of the Mirabeau Bridge

The main arch has a span of 93 meters, and the two side arches are 32.4 meters. The one on the right bank spans the track on the bank, while the one on the left bank spans the platform and extends the footbridge over the RER railroad track. At the time of its construction, the bridge had the largest length-to-height ratio, with a ratio of 16.

Arch Bridge: Length 173 m - Width 20 m - Height 15 m - Material(s) Steel - Construction: 1893-1896

The Mirabeau Bridge: a bridge but also a poem

The Mirabeau Bridge is first a bridge and then a poem by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire published in the magazine "Les Soirées de Paris" in February 1912 and then in 1913 in his collection "Alcools". It deals with the disappearance of love with the passage of time, whose metaphor is the flow of the Seine under the Mirabeau Bridge in Paris.

This poem was inspired by Marie Laurencin, (a painter of worldwide renown today) with whom Guillaume Appolinaire often crossed this bridge and with whom he began a relationship in 1907. It was a chaotic and stormy relationship for seven years. The image of this bridge is linked to the memories of the poet's love affairs. He will say of this poem that it is like "the sad song of this long broken liaison", in a letter addressed to Madeleine Pagès whom he will marry in 1915.

He befriended Pablo Picasso, Antonio de La Gandara, Jean Metzinger, Paul Gordeaux, André Derain, Edmond-Marie Poullain, Maurice de Vlaminck and the Douanier Rousseau, and made a name for himself as a poet and journalist.

Guillaume Apollinaire, a seriously wounded soldier of the 1st World War

He enlisted in 1915 for the 1914-18 war. On March 17, 1916, a few days after his French naturalization, he was wounded in the temple by shrapnel. He was transferred to the Val de Grâce hospital in Paris. He was trephined on May 10, 1916, and then began a long convalescence.

On November 9, 1918, he died at his home, 202 boulevard Saint-Germain, at the corner of Rue Saint-Guillaume. It was the Spanish flu that killed him, not his serious injury on the war front. As his friends came to greet his body, Parisians marched under his windows shouting "À mort Guillaume! "referring not to the poet but to Emperor William II of Germany who abdicated the same day. He is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.

A plaque on the Mirabeau Bridge now bears the first lines of the poem.

The Mirabeau bridge: finally a song

The Mirabeau Bridge poem of Guillaume Appolinaire has been set to music several times. The version of the singer Léo Ferré is probably the best known, sung by many interpreters such as Yvette Giraud, Cora Vaucaire, Anne Sofie von Otter, Serge Reggiani, Marc Lavoine and the group Pow Wow.