Ponts Couverts, Strasbourg

About this place

The Ponts Couverts are a set of three bridges and four towers that make up a defensive work erected in the 13th century on the River Ill in Strasbourg, France. The three bridges cross the four river channels of the Ill that flow through Strasbourg's historic Petite France quarter. The Ponts Couverts have been classified as a Monument historique since 1928. Construction of the Ponts Couverts commenced in 1230, and they were opened in 1250. As a defensive mechanism, they were superseded by the Barrage Vauban, just upstream, in 1690, but remained in use as bridges. As built, each of the bridges was covered by a wooden roof that served to protect the defenders who would have been stationed on them in time of war. 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.