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Origin and history

The Saint-Nicolas de Campagnac Bridge, built between 1245 and 1260 by the monks of the Order of the Frères Pontifes, is a medieval arched building 120 metres long and 18 metres high. He crossed the Gardon at Sainte-Anastasie, establishing a crucial link between Nîmes and Uzès, two allied cities. Its architecture, marked by ogival arches, facilitated the transport of goods such as wheat, wine or materials, replacing the perilous passages of the bays or the bridge of the Gard during winter floods.

Before its construction, the crossing of the Gardon was risky: only pedestrians and riders dared to take a narrow road along the pillars of the Pont du Gard, inaccessible to mules. The Augustin monks, who had settled in the neighboring Priory of Saint-Nicolas de Campagnac in the 12th century, played a key role in this project. Bishop Pons de Becmil, nicknamed "the bishop of the Pont", invested particularly to realize this path, responding to the growth of trade between the two cities.

The bridge became a strategic issue during religious wars. Occupied by the Protestants, he maintained the link between Nîmes and Uzes; His capture by the royal troops or the Guisards isolated these cities. His physiognomy was profoundly altered in 1862 under the Second Empire: the apron was enhanced and a road dug into the priory rock, removing historical elements. Damaged during the Second World War (two arches destroyed by the Wehrmacht in 1944) and then by the floods of 2002, it was restored and slightly expanded to facilitate traffic.

Although not classified as a historic monument due to the transformations, the bridge retains heritage importance. The flood of the Gardon, like that of 2002 where the water exceeded the apron by three meters, recalls its vulnerability. A marble plaque today marks the level of this flood, witness to the challenges posed by nature and history to this medieval work.

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