Pont Neuf

In France, and even more so in Paris, a place royale, literally a royal square, was meant to surround a royal statue, mostly an equestrian statue in the Roman tradition, but later also pedestrian statues. People could walk in the square and admire the statue of their king.
There are five places royales in Paris that have undergone changes over the course of history.

1 – Place des Vosges

Initial name: Place Royale
Inauguration: 1612
Statue: Louis XIII
Origin of the name: The French Département Vosges (in eastern France), was the first to pay its taxes under the French Revolution.
Location: Marais, 4^th arrondissement
Story: Ordered by Henri IV, it was inauguration at the occasion of the engagement of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria.

2 – Place Dauphine

Inauguration: 1614
Statue: no statue in the square, but a statue of Henri IV stands in the middle of the Pont Neuf
Origin of the name: Named for the Dauphin, the heir apparent, the future Louis XIII.
Location: Île de la Cité, 1^st arrondissement
Story: Created by Henri IV following the construction of the Pont Neuf. (It’s actually a triangle, by the way.)

3 – Place des Victoires

Inauguration: 1686
Statue: Louis XIV as Roman Emperor
Origin of the name: in celebration of the military victories of Louis XIV
Location: 1^st and 2^nd arrondissements
Story: Financed by the Duke de la Feuillade, Marshal of France, it is the first square created by a private individual to celebrate his sovereign. (Also it is actually a circle, not a square.)

4 – Place Vendôme

Initial name: Place Louis Le Grand (Louis XIV)
Other names: Place des Conquêtes (Conquests Square), and during the Revolution, Place des Piques (Pike Square, from the pikes on which were displayed the heads of the beheaded by the guillotine)
Inauguration: 1699
Statue: initially Louis XIV (destroyed in 1792), presently Napoléon I^er at the top of the column
Origin of the current name: The square was built in the place of the Hôtel de Vendôme, a hôtel particulier or townhouse.
Location: 1^st arrondissement between rue de la Paix and the Tuileries Gardens
Story: Initiated by Louis XIV, his grand project never saw the light of day. In the end, the square was built by the City of Paris. One of its prestigious addresses houses the Ritz.

5 – Place de la Concorde

Initial name: Place Louis XV
Other name: Place de la Révolution
Inauguration: 1772
Statue: Louis XV, destroyed and replaced by the Egyptian obelisk
Origin of the name: Reconciliation of the French people at the end of the Terror (bloody period during the French Revolution)
Location: 8^th arrondissement, between the Tuileries Gardens and the Champs-Élysées, on the “royal axis”
Story: During the Terror, it was the location of the guillotine where among many others, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were beheaded.

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Do you speak French? At least enough to count to ten? Then you will know that neuf means nine. But don’t jump to the conclusion that the Pont Neuf was the ninth bridge crossing the Seine river. In fact the Pont Neuf Is the oldest existing bridge of the 36 that cross the Seine within the city limits today. Even back in 1578 when its construction began (after lengthy interruptions, it was finished in 1603), it was not the ninth bridge. Neuf, in fact, also means new, which it obviously was when it was built. But why name this particular bridge the “new bridge”?
The difference between this new bridge and the others was that it was built of stone and without any houses, thus allowing Parisians to look at the river flowing below, which was impossible to do from the other bridges.
It is hard for us to imagine what “normal bridges” meant to Parisians back in those days, for today there are no bridges with houses on them in Paris. However, if you look at other parts of Europe, you can find the occasional stone bridge bearing houses, such as Pulteney Bridge in Bath, UK (18^th century), the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy (14^th century), or the Pont de Rohan in Landerneau, Brittany (16^th century).

Houses on the wooden bridges would have looked somewhat like these.

The New Bridge in Paris was an immediate success because it was both large (no houses) and you could look at the river below (no houses). It became a place for commerce, gathering, celebrating, meeting for all levels of society.
When 12 countries of the European Union first adopted the Euro as their currency on January 1^st, 2002, the Pont Neuf with its 12 arches was chosen to symbolize this important passage.

Mayken Brünings

Writing Middle Grade fiction in Paris

Tag Archives: Pont Neuf

Royal Squares, Circles, and Triangles

The new bridge is the oldest bridge and other fun facts about the Pont Neuf