Pont-Neuf
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The oldest bridge in Paris is Pont-Neuf. Its construction was finished in 1604. It is the building that unites the two Islands. A prestigious work, it was built under Henry III and Henry IV to qualify the capital and to link comfortably the right bank to the left one, in order to allow the traffic of the "coaches". The Pont - Neuf is the first bridge in Paris in stone and not in wood, and the first (and the only one for a long time) on which no houses were built, which besides permitted to the passers-by to enjoy the sight of the river. A further refined novelty, much appreciated, were the pavements.
The Pont-Neuf soon became then a place of attraction privileged by the Parisians and a meeting-place for common people and elegant people. In the recesses arranged along the bridge trainers of animals, puppet showmen, tooth drawers, fools, quacks, chansonniers, and so on found a place. But the most famous attraction was perhaps the statue of Henry IV, the first statue they planned to be build to a living king. It was instead eventually installed invl614, four years after the king's death. The horse is a work by Jean Boulogne and the horseman is a sculpture by Tacca. Lemot under Louis XVIII broken to pieces and melted in 1792 substituted the whole. The bronze used comes possibly from the fusion of the statue of Napoleon that was on the Vendome column. We are told that the meter secretly slipped an imperial statuette into the king's left arm and some Bonapartist text into the horse.
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