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Origin and history

The Royal Bridge, located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, is an emblematic work crossing the Seine, built between 1685 and 1689 during the reign of Louis XIV. It replaces a wooden bridge, the "Red Bridge", destroyed by a flood in 1684. Financed entirely by the king, he owes his name to his royal sponsor and his proximity to the Tuileries Palace. This stone bridge, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, François Romain and Jacques Gabriel, marks a technical advance with the use of caissons for foundations and puzzolane in mortars, a first in France.

The 1685 estimate, drawn up by Hardouin-Mansart, defines innovative features: five spans with a 23.40 metre central arch, 4.55 metre thick piles, and three-centre basket cove vaults. The materials, carefully selected, include stones from Saint-Cloud, Bagneux, and Vergelet, as well as stones from Vaugirard. The construction, awarded to James IV Gabriel for 675,000 pounds, was marked by hazards, such as Gabriel's death in 1686, forcing his widow and brother-in-law to continue the work. The final cost is £764,500.

Inaugurated in 1689, the Pont Royal became a place of Parisian festivals in the 18th century. Renamed the "National Bridge" and then the "Tuilleries Bridge" during the Revolution, he returned to his original name in 1814. In 1791, the procession carrying Voltaire's ashes passed there. Ranked a historic monument in 1939, he underwent minor modifications in 1852 to soften his access. In 2005, he was lit up for the 2012 Olympic Games in Paris. His history is also marked by artistic representations, such as the paintings of Camille Pissarro at the beginning of the 20th century.

Prior to the Royal Bridge, the site was occupied by the "Red Bridge", a wooden toll bridge built in 1632 by Pierre Pidou and Robert Chuppin. Fragile, it was repaired several times, burned in 1654, carried away by the waters in 1656, then rebuilt in 1660 before being definitively destroyed in 1684. A stone reconstruction project, funded by a tontine proposed by Lorenzo Tonti, fails. The Red Bridge derives its name from its colour or its promoter, Louis Le Barbier, and was also called "Saint Anne Bridge" in tribute to Anne of Austria.

The Royal Bridge is distinguished by its decorative sobriety and its technical innovations, as the hydrographic scale indicating the floods of the Seine, added after that of the Tournelle Bridge. His plans serve as a model for other works, such as the Jacques-Gabriel Bridge in Blois. The construction phases are documented by the engravings of Lieven Cruyl. In the 19th century, it became a popular subject of painters, like Pissarro, who immortalized it from the hotel Voltaire on the eponymous quay.

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