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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Jena Bridge was commanded by Napoleon I in 1807 to commemorate the victory of Jena (1806) against the Prussians. Originally named "the Champ-de-Mars bridge" or "the École-Militaire bridge", it was finally named in honor of this battle. Its construction, begun in 1808 under the direction of Corneille Lamandé after the death of Jacques Dillon, was completed in 1814. The work was almost destroyed in 1815 by Marshal Blücher, but was saved by the intervention of Tsar Alexander I. Renamed "bridge de l'École-Militaire" under the Restoration, he regained his original name under Louis-Philippe.

The bridge, 155 metres long, features five arches decorated with imperial eagles, designed by François-Frédéric Lemot and carved by Jean-François Mouret. In 1853, four equestrian statues (Gaulese, Roman, Arab and Greek) were added at its ends, made by Auguste Préault, Louis-Joseph Daumas, Jean-Jacques Feuchère and François Théodore Devaulx. Widened several times (1900, 1937), it was temporarily covered at the 1889 and 1900 World Exhibitions.

Ranked a historic monument in 1975, the Iéna bridge was completely pedestrianised in 2024 at the Paris Olympic Games. Its four statues were renovated in early 2024. The project of an adjacent "plant amphitheatre", carried out by the city hall of Paris, sparked debate due to traffic and safety issues, but its realization remains in discussion after the Olympics. The bridge now connects the Eiffel Tower to the Trocadéro, marking an emblematic axis of the Parisian landscape.

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