Contrary to what its name might suggest, the Pont Neuf is actually the oldest bridge in Paris, completed in 1607 during the reign of Henry IV. Before it, Parisian bridges were mainly made of wood and covered with houses, but most of them collapsed. The Pont Neuf was therefore the first bridge to be built in stone and without any buildings on it, marking a real change for the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The construction of the bridge was completed during the reign of Henry IV. After his death, his wife Marie de M\u00e9dicis had a statue of the king erected in the middle of the bridge. However, it was destroyed during the Revolution. The current statue is therefore a 19th-century replica, made during the Restoration. Popular rumor then claimed that the sculptor of this new statue was a Bonapartist and had hidden anti-royalist texts inside!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To verify this, the statue was opened in 2004. Seven boxes were found inside: four containing documents related to the inauguration of the statue, medals, books about Henry IV, and three engraved with the sculptor\u2019s name, containing parchment sheets either glued or rolled up, which remained undecipherable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Contrary to what its name might suggest, the Pont Neuf is actually the oldest bridge in Paris, completed in 1607 during the reign of Henry IV. Before it, Parisian bridges were mainly made of wood and covered with houses, but most of them collapsed. The Pont Neuf was therefore the first bridge to be built […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-classe-en"],"yoast_head":"\n