Alexander III Bridge

The Third Alexandre Bridge is located in an important area, with many valuable historical buildings of the city of Paris. The bridge is located on the straight axis connecting the Palace of Invalides on the left bank of the Seine River (District 7) to Wilson Churchill Avenue on the right bank (District 8) with two works Grand Palais and Petit Palais on either side. Nearby are Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysée Avenue, Presidential Palace (Elysée Palace), Concorde Square, Parliament Building (Palais Bourbon)…

Alexander III Bridge is a symbol of the friendship between Russia and France. Russian Tsar Alexandre III and French President Sadi Carnot built the bridge on the occasion of the Global Exposition held in Paris in 1900. Tsar Nicholas II - son of Tsar Alexander III ordered the bridge. The first stone started construction of the bridge in 1896 and on April 14, 1900, it was Nikolai II himself, along with French president Emile Loubet, inaugurated the bridge. This is also the day President Emile Loubet opened the Global Exhibition at the Grand Palais.

In 1975, Alexander III Bridge was recognized as a historical work of France. In 1991, like Pont Neuf, along with the works on both banks of the Seine, Alexandre III Bridge was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The beauty of Alexandre III Bridge lies in the harmony between modern construction techniques and new artistic styles. Journalist Patrick de Carolis and historian Louis Laforge, in their book "Paris - Along the Seine", cited the bidding rules, saying that architects had to ensure that "the bridge would not break the bridge." affecting the beautiful and lively scenes on the Seine, viewed from the side of the Concorde square, the scenes are unique: the bridges link each other with boats busy on the river », the height of the bridge must not be too high, covering the famous landscapes around, but also not too low to affect boats traveling on the river, and especially the bridge must be in harmony with the two nearby works. built to serve the Global Exhibition are Grand Palais and Petit Palais.

Alexandre III Bridge has only a span of 107 m, with three connecting points and no intermediate piers. The bridge is 40m wide. The entire bridge frame is prefabricated with steel from Le Creusot factory and then transported to the assembly site by screws. This is one of the first buildings in the world built using this technology. The steel used to build bridges was also a special type of steel, used only for military purposes in France at that time. Therefore, a special permit is required to use this steel to build the bridge. To resist the force of the water, the bridge's foundation adjacent to the riverbank was reinforced with giant concrete blocks, which could be said to be unprecedented at that time.

The decoration of the bridge was entrusted to famous sculptors of that time such as Dalou, Garder, Gauquié, etc. With splendid sculptures, Alexander III Bridge is considered as a museum.

The two sides of the bridge are decorated with 32 bronze lampposts with small winged angels. At each end of the bridge, there are two large stone pillars 17m high. The bottom of each column is decorated with a stone statue representing France during the reign of King Charlemagne, the Renaissance, the reign of King Louis XIV and modern times. At the top of each column is a gilded bronze statue of a goddess and a winged horse, symbolizing art, agriculture, battle and war. In the center, the two sides of the bridge are decorated with statues of the Neva river goddesses with Russian weapons and the Seine river goddesses with French weapons. In addition, the two sides of the bridge also have statues of children leading lions, river gods with fish or snails.

Because Alexandre III possesses an ancient beauty too classic, so many brides and grooms come here to take pictures. It is also "British songbird" Adele - who has just won spectacularly with 6 important categories at this year's Grammy - who chose this bridge to film the MV Someone like you!

Address: Pont Alexandre III, 75008 Paris, France

Ticket price : Free