Pont Alexandre III

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Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 49 ″  N , 2 ° 18 ′ 49 ″  E

Pont Alexandre III
Pont Alexandre III
use Road bridge
Crossing of His
place Paris
construction Steel arch bridge
overall length 160 m
width 40 m
Longest span 107.5 m
Arrow height 1/17
start of building 1897
opening April 14, 1900
planner Jean Résal et al
location
Pont Alexandre III (Paris)
Pont Alexandre III

The Pont Alexandre III is in the style of neo-baroque built bridge over the Seine in Paris . It is considered "the most impressive and also the most daring arched bridge of its time".

History and location

The name of the bridge is reminiscent of Tsar Alexander III. (1845–1894), who in 1891 suggested the conclusion of a defensive alliance to Sadi Carnot , the French president , from which the French-Russian alliance , sealed in early 1894, developed.

The laying of the foundation stone

The bridge was planned as part of the 1900 World's Fair . After a competition with 108 participants, Jean Résal and Amédée Alby were entrusted with the structural planning. The architectural and decorative design was assigned to Joseph Cassien-Bernard and Gaston Cousin much later .

The laying of the foundation stone took place on October 7, 1896 in the presence of Tsar Nicholas II and President Félix Faure . After only three years of construction, the bridge was opened on April 14, 1900, one day before the start of the world exhibition, which took place on the Esplanade des Invalides and in the newly built Grand Palais and Petit Palais on the other side of the Seine.

It is therefore in the line of sight that runs from the Champs-Elysées over today's Avenue Winston Churchill between Grand and Petit Palais, over Pont Alexandre III and Avenue du Maréchal Gallieni in the central axis of the Esplanade des Invalides to the Dôme des Invalides . The bridge therefore does not cross the Seine at a right, but at a slightly sloping angle.

The next bridge upstream is the Pont de la Concorde , downstream the Pont des Invalides .

description

Due to its location, the Pont Alexandre III had to meet two requirements: it should be as flat as possible so as not to impair the view of the Dôme des Invalides, but still have a clear enough height to allow ships to pass on the Seine, which shouldn't be hindered by pillars in the river. This was only possible through a steel arch bridge , which was supported just above the waterline on large abutments that are hidden in the flood bed on both banks.

The actual steel arch bridge has a span of 107.5 m. It is connected by brick vaults with the bank walls further back, which have also been renewed and redesigned. This division can be clearly seen from the side; the user on the bridge may notice the widening of the bridge deck above the vaults.

The total length of the bridge is usually given as 160 m, it is 40 m wide. Its 20 m wide roadway offers space for three lanes and one cycle path in each direction. There are sidewalks, each 10 m wide, on both sides. At all four corners of the bridge, wide stairs lead down to the flood bed. On the bank wall by the stairs on the left bank upstream there is a marking of the flood of 1910, the highest flood of the Seine since 1658.

The first rows of masonry vaults on both sides of the steel bridge serve as a passage for the single-lane carriageways in the flood bed. During the later construction of an expressway in the flood bed of the left bank, one lane was led through this first vault and a second lane through the vaults further back. On the right-hand side, part of the back vaults serves as storage rooms, while another part houses a night club.

During the world exhibition there were also underpasses for public transport that were built outside of the actual bridge structure.

The bridge has been listed as a Monument Historique since 1975.

Exterior design

The architects Joseph Cassien-Bernard and Gaston Cousin were commissioned with the external design of the bridge, who - in keeping with the style of the time - largely hid the steel arches behind decorative elements.

The visible part of the bridge is limited by four 17 m high pylons , each with an approx. 4 m high gilded bronze figure. It depicts a winged Pegasus who is being tamed by a Fama , the goddess of fame. At the foot of the pylons there are stone statues that represent the personifications of France from different eras.

  • On the pylon on the right bank upstream there is La René des beaux-arts (Fama of Fine Arts) by Emmanuel Frémiet (1824–1910),
    at the base sits La France de Charlemagne (France at the time of Charlemagne ) by Alfred Lenoir (1850) -1920);
  • on the pylon on the right bank, downstream, stands La René de l'agriculture (Fama des agriculture) by Emmanuel Frémiet (1851–1924),
    at the base sits La France modern (contemporary France) also by Gustave Michel ;
  • on the pylon on the left bank upstream is La Renée au combat (Fama in combat) by Pierre Granet (1843–1910),
    at the base sits La France de la Renaissance by Jules Coutan (1848–1939);
  • on the pylon on the left bank downriver stands La renownedée de la guerre (Fama des Krieg) by Léopold Steiner (1853–1899),
    at the base sits La France de Louis XIV (France at the time of Louis XIV. ), by Laurent Marqueste ( 1848-1920).

  • La prestige des beaux-arts

  • La prestige de l'agriculture

  • La prestige au combat

  • La prestige de la guerre

In the squares in front of the pylons, slightly set back at the beginning of the stairs to the quayside, there is a sculpture of a lion by Georges Gardet being led by a child . Behind the pylons, five - armed cast - iron candelabra with putti mark the transition to the balustrade , which is divided by a row of three-armed candelabra. Other cast-iron street lamps have been set up next to the roadway.

The apex of the arch is adorned with a coat of arms of Paris surrounded by the nymphs of the Seine on one side and a coat of arms of Russia guarded by the nymphs of the Neva on the other, both by Georges Récipon . The outer arches are covered by garlands that hang from support to support and are covered by cast iron decorations.

  • Lion at the entrance of the bridge

  • The coat of arms of Paris with the nymphs of the Seine

  • The coat of arms of Russia with the nymphs of the Neva

  • Candelabra with putti

Technical details

View into the steel structure

The Pont Alexandre III is a three-hinged arch bridge with an extremely flat arch, which is formed from 15 cast steel girders , which are arranged parallel at a center distance of 2.85 m. The central axis of the bridge runs at a slightly inclined angle over the Seine, but in the bank area all components are aligned parallel to the river. This applies not only to the bank walls and the pylons in the visible area, but also to the abutments and the transom joints . As a result, the floor plan of the bridge table with the 15 arched ribs forms a parallelogram . Since the candelabra and other decorations are also aligned parallel to the river axis, the inclined course of the bridge is only perceived by a few of its users.

The original width of the Seine below the bridge of 110 m was reduced to 109 m by the abutments. The transom joints on separate cast steel parts protrude 0.75 m above the water on both sides. The arch thus has a span of 107.5 m. The arrow height is 1 / 17.12. The abutments built with the help of caissons were among the largest abutments of all arch bridges at that time. The bridge deck, which is supported by double-T girders, is elevated with vertical supports on the arched girders , and horizontal and diagonal struts are used for stiffening.

Each arch support consists of 32 cast steel parts screwed together, which, with the exception of the somewhat shorter end pieces on the transoms and the central joints, are each 3.625 m long. The parts have the cross-section of a double T-beam. The crossbars inserted between the flanges give them the shape of a box with three adjacent compartments in the side view. The vertical supports are each 60 cm next to the connecting joints of the cast steel parts. The cast steel beams and the associated joints were manufactured in five different steelworks and transported to the construction site in Paris by barge. The remaining parts of the steel structure were also delivered ready for assembly. A 120 m long mobile gantry crane had been built over the Seine at the construction site , with the help of which the bridge could be erected without the shipping traffic having to be interrupted. According to a plaque on one of the steel girders, the steel structure was built under the leadership of Schneider & Cie in Le Creusot and the Compagnie de Fives-Lille in Lille .

In 1998 the Pont Alexandre III was completely renovated. Among other things, considerable corrosion damage was found between components made of different metals (e.g. cast steel, cast iron and bronze). The long-term electrolytic processes between different metals were obviously not yet known at the time the bridge was built. In the course of the renovation, the gilding was also renewed with a total of 1.8 kg of gold leaf .

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Pont Alexandre-III  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Leonhardt: Bridges . German Verl.-Anst., Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-421-02590-8 , p. 226
  2. ↑ a b Bernard Marrey: Les ponts modern. 18-19 siècles. Picard éditeur, Paris 1990, ISBN 2-7084-0401-6 , p. 256
  3. ^ Voie Expresse Rive Gauche
  4. ↑ Pont Alexandre III on Base Mérimée (French)
  5. ^ Renommée (les Beaux-Arts) - Pont Alexandre III - Paris on e-Monumen.net
  6. ↑ Renommée (l'Agriculture) - Pont Alexandre III - Paris on e-Monumen.net
  7. ^ Renommée (le Combat) - Pont Alexandre III - Paris on e-Monumen.net
  8. ↑ Renommée (la Guerre) - Pont Alexandre III - Paris on e-Monumen.net
  9. ^ Jean Résal, Amédée Alby: Notes sur la Construction du Pont Alexandre III. In: Annales des Ponts et Chaussées , 1898, 1st quarter, pp. 165–214
  10. ^ Jean Résal, Amédée Alby: Notes sur la Construction du Pont Alexandre III. In: Annales des Ponts et Chaussées, 1898, 1st quarter, pp. 173–176
  11. ↑ Frahm: The iron superstructure of the Alexander Bridge in Paris. In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, XX. Volume, No. 27 (from April 7, 1900), p. 162 ( digitized version ) XX. Volume, No. 29 (from April 14, 1900), p. 175 ( digitized ) XX. Volume, No. 32 (from April 25, 1900), p. 193 ( digitized version), each on opus.kobv.de
  12. ^ Forges de Châtillon et Commentry, Forges et Aciéries de la Marine et des Chemins de fer (Saint-Chamond), Forges et Aciéries du Creusot, Forges et Aciéries de Saint-Etienne, Aciéries et Forges de Firminy
  13. ↑ Le Montage du Pont Alexandre III. In: La Nature , Volume 27, 1899, first quarter, p. 103
  14. ↑ Narration Pont Alexandre III on the website of the Office Technique pour l'Utilisation de l'Acier (on archive.wikiwix.com)