Today, when people think of Paris, the image that comes to mind is the Eiffel Tower. But between the 17th century and 1889, when the tower was built, Paris had a completely different symbol. It wasn’t a grand cathedral, a royal palace, or an impressive statue. It was simply a bridge, but not just any bridge: it was a revolutionary piece of urban design that completely changed the way Parisians saw their own city. The bridge is called Pont Neuf, which translates to “the New Bridge” (even though today it’s considered the oldest bridge in Paris). Today I’ll tell you its story.
The history of the Pont Neuf
King Henri III (r. 1574-1589) ordered the bridge built in 1577, and he even laid the cornerstone in 1578. The bridge was meant to connect the Right Bank of the Seine to the Left Bank, easing congestion on the Pont Notre-Dame and shortening the crossing time between the two banks. But the civil war raging at the time, along with a lack of funds, froze the project.
In 1598, Henri IV (r. 1589-1610) signed the Edict of Nantes, which finally ended the civil war in France, and he turned at once to rebuilding Paris, which lay in ruins after decades of unrest, famine, and war. The first project he chose to take on was the new bridge. After nearly twenty years during which no one had touched it, work resumed and was completed in 1606.
Since Henri IV had no money to fund the bridge, he decided to tax the wine barrels coming in from the Neuilly area, and so, according to Henri Sauval, one of the city’s historians, “the bridge was financed by the rich and the drunk.” From the moment it opened, the bridge became an instant success and the most beloved spot among Parisians. So what was so revolutionary about “just a bridge” over the river?
The first bridge with no buildings
The first reason was that this was the first bridge with no houses built on it. Henri IV, who loved a good view, wanted Parisians to be able to stand on the bridge and see the Louvre Palace, which he had begun expanding, and Place Dauphine, which he had begun building.
As a result, for the first time in history, Parisians could stand on a bridge and simply look at the water or the Parisian skyline. What seems obvious to us today was a thrilling novelty in the 17th century. Instead of houses, the king set up a row of small shops where people could buy almost anything they wanted. The shops stayed in place until the 19th century.
But beyond the shops, the bridge became a kind of urban stage where actors and singers could perform for passersby. For example, the first stand-up comedy show in human history was created on the bridge by Henri Le Grand, whose stage name was Turlupin. Some of the bridge’s comedians and singers became so famous that books of their material were sold all over Paris.
This is where sidewalks were invented
The second reason the bridge became a success story is that it was the first place in Paris to have sidewalks. Until then, pedestrians in Paris had to compete with horses and carts for the same space, which led to plenty of accidents and ruined clothes stained with mud or dust.
To solve this problem, the Pont Neuf was given sidewalks that looked like raised platforms you had to climb a few steps to reach (during the 18th century the platforms were lowered, and the sidewalks began to look the way we know them today). The impact of the sidewalks was no less revolutionary, since for the first time people could walk and stroll without being run over or ruining their clothes (something that seems obvious to us now).
As a result, many nobles, who until then had ridden horses or been carried by their servants in sedan chairs, began strolling on foot and “mixing” with the common people. Without anyone quite noticing, the Pont Neuf became Paris’s first fashion runway, where anyone who came to the city could see the latest French fashions. Along with the fashion shows came clothes thieves, known as filous (Filou), who would snatch nobles’ coats and run off before anyone could stop them.
A voyeurs’ beach and stand-up comedy in 18th-century Paris
The third innovation of the bridge was its transformation into a makeshift beach for Parisians. This was the first time swimming in the Seine became popular (even though it was, by any standard, a polluted river), and on hot summer days you could find plenty of Parisians stripping off their clothes and jumping from the lower part of the bridge into the Seine.
Bathing in the river became more organized once bathing boats, separate for men and women, were added near the bridge, where bathers could undress and leave their clothes before going to swim. And here, ladies and gentlemen, the world’s first “voyeurs’ beach” was also born: in 1716 the Paris police had to step in after men started peeking into the women’s changing areas, with some even walking in naked.
The birth of the Parisian press
Finally, the bridge’s last innovation was its role as an early version of the evening news. This was an age with no television, when the press was only just taking its first steps (the first newspaper appeared in 1611, about five years after the bridge was finished).
The Pont Neuf became the place to hear the hottest news of the day (imagine something like posted street notices or bulletin boards, hung near the shops or next to the statue of Henri IV, which stands close to the Left Bank of the Seine). Since a large part of Paris’s population couldn’t read, people would stand on the bridge reading the news aloud to the crowd, helping it spread quickly.
As a result, the bridge became a political powder keg that exploded more than once. The best example of this was the Fronde uprising, which started here in 1648 after news broke of the arrest of the popular parliament member Pierre Broussel, who lived near the bridge. Within about 15 minutes of the arrest, word had spread across all of Paris thanks to the Pont Neuf’s pamphlets, and an angry mob took to the streets and drove off the king’s soldiers.
When Broussel was released from prison, the Pont Neuf became the center of the rebels’ victory celebrations, with the rebels calling themselves the Frondeurs of the Pont Neuf (a fronde was the slingshot the rebels used to throw stones at the king’s soldiers). It’s no surprise that from that moment on, the authorities did everything they could to stop people from gathering on the bridge, but given the central role the bridge played, no one ever obeyed those orders.
For all these reasons, the Pont Neuf became one of the most beloved spots in Paris, and it gave rise to more than a few expressions. For example, “to sing on the Pont Neuf” (chanter sur le Pont Neuf) means to tell the whole city about your doings. Another is the saying “the Pont Neuf will still be the new bridge in a thousand years,” meaning something is absolutely certain. More than 400 years have passed, and the saying still holds…
A few more things about the Pont Neuf
Did you enjoy the article? Want to discover more monuments in Paris? Feel free to check out the Paris travel guide I put together, with many more places to visit in the city.
Want to stay near the Pont Neuf?
The Pont Neuf sits right in the center of Paris. So if you stay nearby, you’ll be able to walk easily to plenty of spots on the Right Bank, the Left Bank, and the Île de la Cité.
To do that, you’ll want to look for hotels or vacation apartments in the 1st arrondissement (on the Right Bank side of the bridge) or the 6th arrondissement (on the Left Bank side). You can find them in these articles:
- Hotels in Paris: Recommended Hotels for Every Arrondissement and Budget
- Vacation Rentals in Paris: Recommendations for Great Vacation Apartments
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