Pont-Neuf

About

The Pont-Neuf is a bridge of Toulouse on the Garonne, it connects the Place du Pont-Neuf to the Rue de la République. Built in the 16th and 17th centuries, it is, despite its name, the oldest bridge of the city crossing the Garonne. The Pont-Neuf once constituted an entrance to the city, symbolized on the left bank by an arc of triumph (destroyed in 1860) bearing an equestrian statue of King Louis XIII.

The decision to build a large bridge over the Garonne at Toulouse was considered by the capitouls at the end of the 15th century, and was prompted by King Francis I, who saw it as a strategic interest in the then threatening Spain of Charles Quint. In 1541 François I authorized the lifting of a special tax on the region, studies were carried out in 1542 and the work began the following year. By the scale of the construction site and the innovative techniques used to overcome the difficulties of its construction, which lasted almost a century (started in 1632, inauguration by King Louis XIV in 1659), the Pont-Neuf de Toulouse is considered a masterpiece of the Renaissance and early seventeenth century.

Started in the 16th century by people of Toulouse art...