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The Pont de l'Alma ( en, Alma Bridge) is a road bridge in
The general public took the original bridge as a measuring instrument for water levels in times of flooding on the Seine: access to the footpaths by the river embankments usually was closed when the Seine's level reached the feet of ''The Zouave''; when the water hit his thighs, the river was unnavigable. During the great flood of the Seine in 1910, the level reached his shoulders. The French Civil Service used the Pont de la Tournelle, not the Pont de l'Alma, to gauge flood levels, and since 1868 uses the Pont d'Austerlitz.
The bridge is close to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel where Diana, Princess of Wales, and three others were involved in a fatal car crash on 31 August 1997. They were being chased by paparazzi, and their chauffeur was driving under the influence of alcohol. The ''
Pictures of the old and the new bridge
*
Bridge history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alma Bridges over the River Seine in Paris Bridges completed in 1856 Bridges completed in 1974 Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris 1856 establishments in France Diana, Princess of Wales
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, across the Seine. It was named to commemorate the Battle of Alma
The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septem ...
during the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, in which the Ottoman-Franco-British alliance achieved victory over the Russian army, on 20 September 1854. The bridge is also known for being the site of a car crash that caused the death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed
Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed (; arz, عماد الدين محمد عبد المنعم الفايد, ʿImād ed-Dīn Muḥammad ʿAbd el-Munʿim el-Fāyid , 17 April 1955 – 31 August 1997), better known as Dodi Fayed ( ar, دودى ...
.
History
Construction
Construction of anarch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...
took place between 1854 and 1856. It was designed by Paul-Martin Gallocher de Lagalisserie and was inaugurated by Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
on 2 April 1856. Each side of both of the two piers was decorated with a statue of military nature: a Zouave and a grenadier by Georges Diébolt
Georges Diebolt, sometimes spelled Diébolt, (6 May 1816, Dijon – 7 November 1861, Paris) was a French sculptor best known for his publicly commissioned monumental works, including '' The Zouave'' and on the pont de l'Alma in Paris and the '' ...
, and a skirmisher and an artilleryman by Arnaud.
''The Zouave'' statue and flooding
The general public took the original bridge as a measuring instrument for water levels in times of flooding on the Seine: access to the footpaths by the river embankments usually was closed when the Seine's level reached the feet of ''The Zouave''; when the water hit his thighs, the river was unnavigable. During the great flood of the Seine in 1910, the level reached his shoulders. The French Civil Service used the Pont de la Tournelle, not the Pont de l'Alma, to gauge flood levels, and since 1868 uses the Pont d'Austerlitz.
Reconstruction
The bridge underwent complete reconstruction as a girder bridge between 1970 and 1974, as it had been too narrow to accommodate the increasing traffic both on and below it; moreover, the structure had subsided some 80 centimeters. Only the statue of the Zouave was retained: the Skirmisher was relocated to theGravelle Stronghold
The redoute de Gravelle (''Gravelle redoubt'') is a fort in Joinville-le-Pont, situated to the south-east of Vincennes in Paris. Built under Louis-Philippe, from 1968 it housed the École nationale de police de Paris (ENPP), before becoming an ...
in Vincennes
Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attache ...
, the Grenadier to Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
, and the Artilleryman to La Fère
La Fère () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in France.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Aisne department
The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne.
The communes coope ...
.
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
The bridge is close to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel where Diana, Princess of Wales, and three others were involved in a fatal car crash on 31 August 1997. They were being chased by paparazzi, and their chauffeur was driving under the influence of alcohol. The ''Flame of Liberty
The ''Flame of Liberty'' (''Flamme de la Liberté'') in Paris is a full-sized, gold-leaf-covered replica of the flame of the torch from the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''). The monument, which measures approximately 3.5 me ...
'' (completed in 1987), at the bridge's north end has become an unofficial memorial to Diana. The square is now officially named Place Diana
The Place Diana ( en, Diana Square) is a public square situated in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the Seine river.
History
The place is named in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, by vote of the Council of Paris in 2018. The place i ...
. The tunnel is known as an accident black spot from 1982 to 1997
as there were 11 deaths in the area.
Technical specifications
Pont de l'Alma has a length of 153 meters (502 ft) and a width of 42 meters (138 ft).Access
The Metro station Alma - Marceau is near the north end of the bridge, RER station Pont de l'Alma near the south end.References
External links
*Pictures of the old and the new bridge
*
Bridge history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alma Bridges over the River Seine in Paris Bridges completed in 1856 Bridges completed in 1974 Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris 1856 establishments in France Diana, Princess of Wales