Pont d'Avignon (Pont Saint-Bénézet)

The Pont d'Avignon — formally the Pont Saint-Bénézet — is a 12th-century medieval bridge spanning the Rhône river at Avignon in the Vaucluse, and one of the most famous medieval structures in France, immortalised in the traditional French nursery song 'Sur le Pont d'Avignon'. Originally stretching 900 metres across the full width of the Rhône with 22 arches, the bridge was begun in 1177 according to tradition at the instruction of a shepherd named Bénézet, who was later canonised as the patron saint of bridge builders. Construction took approximately a decade and involved engineering feats significant for the era, including the placement of large stone piers in the fast-flowing current. Today only four of the original 22 arches remain standing, the rest having been progressively destroyed by floods between the 13th and 17th centuries; the last major sections collapsed after the severe floods of 1668. The surviving fragment extends 155 metres from the Avignon city wall into the river, terminating abruptly above the water and giving the bridge its characteristic truncated appearance. On the second pier stands the Chapelle Saint-Nicolas, a two-storey Romanesque and Gothic chapel built in the 12th and 14th centuries respectively, where travellers gave thanks for safe crossing. The lower chapel is Romanesque; the upper Gothic chapel retains carved stone decorations. Admission includes a multimedia audio guide (available in multiple languages) that traces the history of the bridge through six centuries of floods, rebuilding, and abandonment. The most celebrated view of the bridge is from the Rocher des Doms gardens or from the opposite bank of the Île de la Barthelasse, where the four arches and the silhouette of the Palais des Papes behind are seen together. In the evening, the bridge and Palais des Papes are both illuminated, creating one of the most atmospheric nightscapes in Provence.