Pont Saint-Bénézet

About this place

The Pont Saint-Bénézet, also known as the Pont d'Avignon, was a medieval bridge across the Rhône in the town of Avignon, in southern France. Only four arches survive. An early wooden bridge spanning the Rhône between Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Avignon was built between 1177 and 1185. This wooden bridge was destroyed forty years later in 1226 during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon. Beginning in 1234 the bridge was rebuilt with 22 stone arches. The stone bridge was about 900 m in length and only 4.9 m in width, including the parapets at the sides. The bridge was abandoned in the mid-17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhône flooded, making it very expensive to maintain. View the structure from the side as well as along its length. This makes its engineering easier to understand and helps connect the monument with the practical movement of water, people or goods that shaped the surrounding settlement.