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Pont de la Tournelle
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On the site of the current bridge, the first bridge - called "Fust de l'île Notre-Dame" - was built in 1370 between the Ile Saint-Louis and the quai Saint Bernard. This bridge, which was swept away by the river, was replaced by another in 1620, itself destroyed by ice in 1637. In 1656, the first "Tournelle" bridge was erected, with six stone arches. Barring a few modifications, this structure remained in service until 1918, when it was demolished after suffering a certain amount of damage, notably in the floods of 1910.
The present structure was built between 1924 and 1928 following a competition won by Pierre and Louis Guidetti, who explained their choice in the following terms:
"We took account of the dissymmetry of the river at this point, which has a wide bank, while the Seine runs along the base of the wall on the right bank. We wanted to take this lack of symmetry into the very heart of the structure itself and therefore developed the pier on the left bank, with a very simple pylon on its cutwater continuing the lines of the pier and carrying a statue of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, at its summit."
The decoration thus mainly concerns the cutwater of the left bank pier, which is prolonged upwards by a 14 m high pylon topped by a 5.30 m high statue of Saint Genevieve, the work of the sculptor Paul Landowski.
Designers
Pierre and Louis GUIDETTI, architects
Contractor
COMBE
Construction date
1924-1928
Total length
122 m
Usable width
23 m: roadway 15 m; two pavements of 4 m
Construction principles
Three reinforced concrete arches of 12.50 m (basket-handle), 74 m (7 m rise) and 11 m (semicircular).
The central arch comprises three reinforced concrete arches of 7 m rise.
The bridge is faced with dressed quarried stone.
Decoration
Left bank pier continued by a 14 m pylon topped by a statue of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris.
Address
Quai de la Tournelle
75004 Paris
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