Pont des Arts

The Pont des Arts is a slender, iron-arched bridge that floats between the Institut de France and the Louvre. It was the first metal bridge in Paris, built in eighteen oh four for pedestrians only. Its original design featured garden beds and benches, meant to resemble a hanging park over the Seine. During the Second World War, two bombs struck the bridge, causing a section to collapse. Engineers reconstructed the structure in the early eighties to match the original arc of the first bridge.