Pont Neuf & The Equestrian Statue of Henri IV

Why is it significant?

Step onto the smooth white limestone paving of Pont Neuf and rest your hands against one of the rounded semicircular stone balconies jutting out over the rushing green waters of the Seine. Despite its name meaning New Bridge, you are standing on the oldest standing bridge in all of Paris.

Key Facts

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Step onto the smooth white limestone paving of Pont Neuf and rest your hands against one of the rounded semicircular stone balconies jutting out over the rushing green waters of the Seine. Despite its name meaning New Bridge, you are standing on the oldest standing bridge in all of Paris. Commissioned by King Henri the Third in fifteen seventy-eight and completed by Henri the Fourth in sixteen zero seven, it transformed Parisian life forever. Look around at the open views up and down the river: Pont Neuf was the very first bridge in Paris built entirely of stone without houses crowding its roadway. Before this bridge, Parisian river crossings were dark, filthy tunnels crammed with leaning wooden tenements and butchers. Pont Neuf introduced wide pavements where citizens of every social class mingled, shopped at street stalls, and watched acrobats and charlatans perform above the water. Look closely at the carved stone masks, or mascarons, lining the bridge's cornices: over three hundred grotesque faces of satyrs, river deities, and Parisian scoundrels gaze down into the river. In the center rises the bronze equestrian statue of Henri the Fourth, beloved as the Good King. Walk into the quiet cobblestone triangle of Place Dauphine just behind the statue.