Sur le Pont D'Avignon

This bridge is the Pont St. Bénézet, a famous medieval bridge in the town of Avignon, in southern France, but it is better known as the Pont d'Avignon. In the 15th century song, "Sur Le Pont D'Avignon, it's all about dancing on this bridge.

The bridge, built between 1177 and 1185, crosses the Rhône River between Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Avignon. The bridge was destroyed during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon forty years later. But it was too costly to maintain because the 22 arches tended to collapse when the Rhône flooded. In the middle of the 17th century the bridge was abandoned. There are four surviving arches on the bank of the Rhône, believed to have been built about1345. The Chapel of Saint Nicholas is on the second pier of the bridge and was constructed in the second half of 12th century but has since been substantially altered. The western terminal, the Tour Philippe-le-Bel, is also preserved.

The bridge is a landmark of the city. In 1995, what’s left of the bridge, the surviving arches of the bridge and the chapel, was classified as a World Heritage Site.


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