Seine bridges - Pont Marie

Within the Paris borders, the Seine River is crossed by 37 bridges, including two for the metro only and two, at the extreme ends, for the circular highway (Boulevard Périphérique). On this map I have indicated all the other bridges. Four of them are only for pedestrians. You can, if you wish, check the posts I have already made about the bridges Alexandre III, Pont Bir-Hakeim, Mirabeau, Pont-Neuf and Bercy.

Walking along the Seine, you can of course use the “berges”, the banks, and watch the barges (see previous post), you can do some shopping – or just watch – the book (and souvenir) stands. Part of the lower banks were opened for traffic some 40 years ago, but Sundays they are open only for pedestrians, bikers, skate rollers... and during some summer weeks, they are occupied by “Paris Beach” (“Paris Plages”) - (see previous post). I will revert later about some other bridges, but this time I will just mention Pont Marie. The bridge is one of those connecting Ile Saint Louis (see previous posts) with the northern (right) bank of the river.

It’s one of the oldest bridges in Paris, from the 17th century – the oldest one being Pont-Neuf (the New Bridge). The name of the bridge, Marie (Mary), has nothing to do with what you first may believe, but it was the name of one of its architects. It was originally covered by buildings and shops, as many bridges those days (like e.g. still the Ponte Vecchio in Florence), but they were demolished during the 18th century. One reason for this was that floods those days often destroyed those buildings – and people died. One special thing with the bridge is that all the arches are unique and another thing is that the niches have never got any statues.

If you wish to see the above pictures "in full", you can find them on Ipernity.