Short description

The Pont-des-arts, or Passerelle des Arts, links the Quais Malaquais and Quais Conti at the Institut de France in Paris's 6th arrondissement, with the Quais François-Mitterrand and Quais du Louvre in the 1st arrondissement. Built between 1801 and 1804, it was the capital's first iron bridge, reserved for pedestrians. Listed as a historic monument since 1975, it offers fine views over the Seine and its monuments.

The bridge was rebuilt in 1984 after its partial collapse in 1979. Between 2008 and 2015, its embardens were covered with "love padlocks", removed for safety reasons in 2015. The removed padlocks were auctioned off for charity in 2017.

The Pont-des-arts has inspired many artists and writers, including Vercors and Kenneth Clark. It also features in many works of art, films and songs. It is surrounded by the Pont Neuf upstream and the Pont du Carrousel downstream.

Localisation
To discover
Open hours

No closure except during maintenance period

Access

Pont des Arts - Passerelle des Arts
Quai de Conti - Quai François Mitterrand
75006 Paris

  • Métro - Line 1 (station Louvre) - Rivoli and line 7 (station Pont Neuf)
  • Bus - 21, 27, 69, 72
Address

Pont des Arts
Quai de Conti - Quai François Mitterrand
75006 Paris

 

Coordinates Latitude Longitude
Sexagesimal (°, ', ") 48° 51′ 30″  N 2° 20′ 15″ E
Degré décimal (GPS) 48.85844 2.33756
Full description

Pont-des-arts: where is it located?

The Pont-des-arts, also known as the Passerelle des Arts, is a structure that connects the Malaquais and Conti quays at the Institut de France on one side, in the 6th arrondissement. On the second side, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, is the François-Mitterrand and Louvre quays at the square courtyard of the Palais du Louvre.

Its name comes from the Palais du Louvre called the "Palais des Arts" during the 1st Empire of Napoléon 1st. Built between 1801 and 1804, it is the first iron bridge in the capital. The bridge is reserved for pedestrians. As a family, couple, or between friends, the stroll is pleasant there and the points of view on the Seine and its monuments are convenient for photo sessions.

The Pont des Arts has been listed as a historical monument since March 17, 1975.

Reconstruction of the Pont-des-arts

This bridge built in 1804 was modified in 1852. The bridge was closed to traffic in 1977, following its fragility due to the bombings of World War I and II, and several barge collisions. In fact, it actually collapsed over 60 meters in 1979 during the last collision with a barge. The bridge was dismantled in 1980. It was rebuilt in 1984 in the almost identical form: with 7 arches instead of 8 which allows their alignment with those of the Pont Neuf.

Padlock of love (2008-2015) - Since 2008

Starting in 2008, the latticed parapets of the Pont-des-arts became the support for many "love padlocks" hung by couples. This practice was then extended to the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor footbridge, the Archbishop's bridge, and the Simone-de-Beauvoir footbridge.

The deterioration (and security) of this Patrimoine caused by the presence of tons of padlocks, the Paris City Council decided to put an end to it in September 2014. Thus, the fences are definitively removed on June 1, 2015, to be replaced by glass panels as of the fall of 2015. The 800 removed padlocks were auctioned off in 2017 for €250,000, to the charity profile.

The Pont-des-arts in the literature ...

In literature, in "La Marche à l'étoile", a novel published in 1943 by the writer Vercors, recounts the life of Thomas Muritz, a young Hungarian nourished by French culture, crossing Europe towards France, with a final aim to the Pont-des-arts in Paris. Arriving, after a month's journey in a continent tormented by war, in front of the bridge, he became enamored of "this point of the world where one embraces at once [...] the Institute, the Louvre, the Cité - and the quays of the books, the Tuileries, the Latin hillock up to the Pantheon, the Seine up to the Concorde".

Also, Kenneth Clark, in Civilization, 1969:
"I am on the Pont-des-arts in Paris. On one side of the Seine, you can see the harmonious and sober façade of the Institute, built around 1670 to be a college. On the other side, the Louvre, built from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century: a summit of classical architecture, splendid and balanced. Upstream we see the top of Notre Dame, which may not be the most attractive cathedral, but surely the most rigorously intellectual facade of all Gothic art. The houses along the river banks also show in a rational and human way what the architecture of the cities should be. In front of these houses, under the trees, line the bookstores' boxes where generations of amateurs have given free rein to this hobby of the cultured man: collecting books. For a hundred and fifty years, students of the Beaux-Arts have passed over this bridge to study the masterpieces of the Louvre; back in their studios, they discuss and dream of doing something worthy of the great tradition. And on this bridge, since Henry James, how many pilgrims from America have stopped to breathe in the scent of a culture with distant roots, aware that they are at the very center of civilization. "

... an also in paintings

This bridge was also the inspiration for a multitude of paintings exhibited in French national museums and also in New York and Los Angelès:

Cinema, television, and songs and the Pont-des-arts

The cinema and television are not left out. At least 17 shots for the cinema, television, and ballets have also often used the Pont des Arts as a natural setting. Even more than 10 songs have been written about the Pont des Arts.

A well surrounded Pont-des-arts

The bridge upstream is the Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris) and the bridge downstream the Pont du Carrousel (which leads directly to the Louvre Museum).

To discover
Open
Open 24h today
  • Monday

    Open 24h

  • Tuesday

    Open 24h

  • Wednesday

    Open 24h

  • Thursday

    Open 24h

  • Friday

    Open 24h

  • Saturday

    Open 24h

  • Sunday

    Open 24h

  • November 15, 2024 1:52 am local time

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