Description of the attraction
The Pont Alexandre III is considered to be the most graceful and elegant bridge in Paris. It was built in honor of the Franco-Russian alliance and bears the name of the Russian tsar who initiated the alliance. The first stone of the building was laid by Nicholas II, the son of Alexander III, and the bridge was opened in the presence of the Russian ambassador Lev Urusov.
A new ferry was being built for the 1900 World's Fair as part of a massive redevelopment of western Paris. The result was the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, and between them - the Alexander III bridge, connecting the Esplanade of Invalides and the Champs Elysees region. The height of the bridge does not exceed 6 meters so as not to obscure the majestic panoramas on both sides of the Seine.
Like the palaces, the bridge was built in the Beaux-Arts style, which means it is richly and lavishly decorated: sculptures of pegasus, cherubs, water spirits, nymphs of the Seine and Neva, golden coats of arms of France and Russia, lanterns. All decorations are made by different artists. At the entrances to the bridge, there are four seventeen-meter pillars with shining gilded sculptures that symbolize certain periods in the history of France. These pillars are an example of a sensible combination of beauty and utility: in fact, they are counterbalances that balance the massive arch.
Thus, the magnificent decoration of the bridge is combined with the latest engineering solutions for that time. The steel single-arch bridge was one of the first prefabricated structures in the world - its elements were produced at the factories of Le Creusot, and then transported by barges to Paris, where a huge, over the entire width of the Seine, a crane was already prepared.
The Alexander III bridge has a "brother" in St. Petersburg - the Troitsky bridge across the Neva with a very similar decor. It was designed by the Eiffel firm and built by the Batignolles firm, and was laid by the then French President Felix Faure.
