After your stroll at the foot (or on top) of the Tour Eiffel, why not take a spin along the pont d'Iéna, which links the Iron Lady to the Trocadéro? Behind this passage trodden daily by thousands of visitors lies a history intimately tied to Napoleon I.
The Pont d'Iéna was built under the First Empire at the emperor's request, in the wake of his victory over the Prussians at the battle of Jena, on October 14, 1806. The sovereign decides to name this new bridge after that triumph, to span the Seine at the Champ-de-Mars. Designed by engineer Corneille Lamandé, the bridge features five arches and is adorned with imperial symbols.
Yet the name Napoleon chose almost cost the bridge dear a few years later! In 1815, after the fall of the Empire and the arrival of Allied troops in Paris, the Prussian field marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, who had fought the French at Jena, aimed to blow up the structure, but the bridge ultimately escaped destruction. Under the Restoration, Louis XVIII renamed it the Pont de l'École-Militaire and had its imperial emblems removed.
The bridge then regains its original name under Louis-Philippe, and its decoration continues to evolve as well. In 1848, the decision is made to install four imposing equestrian statues at its ends. Inaugurated in 1853, they depict a Gaulish rider, a Roman rider, a Greek rider, and an Arab rider. Each statue has its own sculptor: Auguste Préault, Louis-Joseph Daumas, François-Théodore Devaulx, and Jean-Jacques Feuchère.
Its position between the Champ de Mars and the Trocadéro places the Pont d'Iéna right in the spotlight of Paris's great Expositions. In the run-up to the 1937 International Exposition, the structure was substantially widened—from 14 to 35 meters in width—while preserving its five historic arches. The four equestrian statues were then slightly moved and reoriented.
Listed as historical monuments since 1975, the Pont d'Iéna has lost none of its former splendor!
Dates and Opening Time
Next days
Saturday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Sunday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Monday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Tuesday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Wednesday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Thursday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Friday:
from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Location
Pont d'Iéna
Pont d'Iéna
75116 Paris 16
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