Paris Bridges

The vastness of Paris is overwhelming. Being at one point in history the biggest city in the world, the City of Light is by no description a small city. Its beauty is enhanced greatly by the Seine, a natural river that traverses through the city. Its enormous girth and its slow meditated flow make it possible to navigate, encouraging its commercial use which is deeply exploited in the city. Its presence in the city created the need to have bridges, which as at now are distributed throughout the city. The city of Paris has 37 bridges over the Seine, which if anything, help reiterate on the colossal size of the city. There is another waterway, the Canal de L’Ourcq, but it does not receive as much publicity owing to its location at the edge of Paris.

The total count of bridges in Paris totals to over 300, and they have an assorted purpose. There are those that are built for pedestrians strictly, there are those that are better tailored to traffic, and then there are those that play the indispensable role of linking the islands to the rest of the city. The Seine has two islands, Ile de la Cite which is the island that houses the Notre Dame de Paris. This island has 8 bridges in total. The other island is Ile Saint-Louis which has three bridges that link it to the rest of Paris. There is a bridge linking the two islands as well.

The very first bridge in Paris was constructed in the 17th century, and was built in the Ile de la Cite, and it connects Rive Gauche to the Rive Droite. Its construction design is consistent with the designs prominent in ancient Paris. The bridge, like several others that came after, was built as a series of short arches, an idea that had Roman inspiration. There are no two bridges that are exactly a like, and any similarities in design are not directly evident from the constructions. The building of bridges in Paris fared on into modern times, with some of the recent constructions dating to as late as 2006. Sculptures are a common thing in the older bridges of the city, as well as other decorations such as lampposts and gilded statues.

Knowing the navigation ability of the Seine, a lot of consideration was put into building the bridges in Paris. Even with multiple arch designs, the bridges are not built to hinder the passage of a water vessel under them. While there is a limit on the magnitude of the vessel that can easily pass through all the bridges in Paris, small commercial water boats holding several tourists can easily pass under them.

Paris bridges present one of the best ways to view the city of Paris. They provide distant yet serene views of the city from an angle that cannot be achieved from other positions. The bridges also provide ideal settings to take a walk or watch a sunset, as well as a romantic setting where couples plan their meetings.