A little history of Pont Notre-Dame
And also
The tops
Originally, this bridge was called pont de la planche de Mibrai (pont du milieu du fleuve, "bridge in the middle of the river").
This small wooden bridge was destroyed in 1406, replaced in 1413 and 1499. Unfortunately, it collapsed! The brand new bridge dates back to 1500.
The legend says a man called Giacondo built it, an Italian who worked on the construction of Saint-Peter church in Rome... Anyway, the construction was laborious.
The city lacked money, so they created a special tax in 1508, then in 1510 and 1511. Nice stony houses were raised on the bridge: more than 30, all decorated with kings portraits medallions...
But those houses were too dangerous for the bridge solidity... so they were destroyed in 1786... They put up a water pump in 1676, in order to bring water to city fountains: they removed it in 1853.
We also found an arc de triomphe dedicated to Louis XIV, made by Jean Goujon. They finally rebuilt the bridge in the 19th century and the pump disappeared. In 1912, they replaced the 3 arches by a single iron arch.