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Origin and history

The Pont Vieux de Saint-Flour, located in the Faubourg district in the lower town, is one of the oldest bridges in France. Although its origins date back to the 11th century, its current structure dates mainly from the 14th century. It has undergone many transformations over the centuries, including partial reconstructions such as that of 1404, using stones from nearby houses destroyed. This stone bridge, with arches of full hanger and built in the back of the donkey, crossed the Ander, a tributary of the Truyère. Originally, there were five arches, some of which are no longer visible today. Its role was multiple: economic (passage between the banks), military (control of the south access to the fortified high town) and religious (presence of a reclusory).

In the Middle Ages, the bridge was covered with a wooden frame and housed a reclusory: a narrow lodge where a person, called reclused, would voluntarily lock up to pray until his death. This practice, attested from the twelfth century, disappeared with the destruction of the reclusory in the sixteenth century. The bridge was also a place of tension: in times of war, the Faubourg was often ransacked, and in times of peace its taverns had a bad reputation. The restorations increased, notably after the 1733 and 1769 floods, while the central and sidewalks were fitted out for carts and pedestrians.

Ranked a historical monument in 1946, the Old Bridge illustrates medieval ingenuity: for its construction, the course of the Ander had been diverted. Symbol of the exchanges between the upper city and the Faubourg, it also embodies the contradictions of its time, between religious devotion (reclusery), violence (saccages, altercations) and resilience (repeated restorations). Today, there remains a major testimony of the Cantalian heritage, owned by the department and open to the visit.

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