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Pont St. Benezet

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SadgeArrow
SadgeArrow
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3 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Sur le Pont d'Avignon (l'on y danse, l'on y danse...)

Sur le Pont d'Avignon (l'on y danse, l'on y danse...)

At first glance one might think "What's the fuss?" The Pont Saint-Benezet is a narrow pedestrianized bridge. It is not particularly high. It is not particularly grand. It does not even go all the way across the river, and only three arches remain jutting out into the water. Ah. But this is a *miraculous* bridge.

The river Rhone has been both friend and foe to those who lived along its banks. It watered Provence and its vineyards, it stretches north providing an easy way into the heart of Europe for Roman armies, and for goods and commerce to come back down. Yet it can be furious, unpredictable, its floods capable of carrying away men, livestock and towns in its rages. It is now tame, but for centuries those that depended upon it also feared it.

It was also unbridged. Until the time of Benezet however. Legend has it that this simple shepherd boy was working in the hills when he had a vision. A command was attached - build a bridge across the might river at Avignon. At first the townsfolk laughed at him, they thought he had been (in the words of the audioguide) "touched by fairies". However, he proved that God was on his side by picking up a mighty boulder and carrying it into the water to start work on one of the piles of the bridge. Today Saint Benezet is revered as the patron saint of architects.

That is the story anyway. What is the case was that until the 12th-century the Rhone could not be bridged until much much further north. Upon completion this bridge all but guaranteed the wealth of Avignon, as it was the safest crossing point for many miles (not completely safe however: in icy weather people had a tendency to skid off the edge!). The arrival of the pontiffs from Rome in the 14th-century further enriched the city. The Rhone was then a border. The papacy resided in Avignon; the forces of the French crown kept a suspicious watch on them from their forts across the water in Villeneuve-les-Avignon. To cross the bridge was hence to cross the border.

All this is described by the free audioguide you get on admission. It is actually fairly hard to find the bridge from the centre of town by the Palais des Papes. Follow the signs down through a winding maze of streets to the Porte du Rhone gateway. Once outside the walls you enter through a tower, from where the first arch of the bridge spans the busy road that rings the city.The entry fee is €4.50, or €3.50 with an Avignon Passion card. The audioguide is very informative; I ended up staying an hour on the bridge, when you would think that you could see all there was to it in ten minutes.

Firstly you cross a draw bridge. From here you are on the bridge proper. A small chapel is devoted to St Nicholas, patron saint of the boatmen whose livelihood depended upon the Rhone. Stairs also lead down to an under-chapel, devoted to St Benezet himself. Here you can also step out onto one of the lozenge-shaped piers. Back up top you can walk across the cobbles (wear thick-soled shoes) to the tip of the bridge. The remainder of the bridge was carried away in a 16th-century storm - looks like Benezet's canonization was a touch premature!

From here you get a marvellous view back along the bridge's length to the town. Above the walls you can see the tower of the cathedral and the crenellations of the Palais des Papes, all hewn from the same harmonious pale stone.

The audioguide also tells the story of the nursery rhyme. "Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, l'on y danse..." ("On the bridge of Avignon, they all dance, they all dance..."). You would think this would be a dangerous pursuit - the bridge is quite narrow, the only guardrails are modern, and the surface is uneven. Well, it turns out the story of the song is as complicated as the story of the bridge. There is a piece of medieval music about the bridge of Avignon, but it sounds more like a cross between a monkish requiem mass and Greensleeves. The song came to prominence only in the late 19th-century as a music hall song. And even then the words were different. Apparently the dancing took place '*sous* le pont d'Avignon' - *beneath* the bridge. On its way across the Rhone the bridge forded the Ile de la Barthelasse. Today this wooded area (and site to free carparking) could be mistaken as the far bank of the river. Allegedly it was underneath the arches as they crossed this river that unsavoury inns for an unsavoury clientele kept unsavoury hours - think 'Oliver Twist' and you won't go far wrong. It was here that the underclasses danced, whilst waiting for their next victim to cross... Mind you, these days they *do* dance sur le pont - as evidenced by the number of reluctant school groups coerced into holding hands and ring-a-ring-o'-rosy-ing around...

It is a strange kind of tourist attraction, the Pont Saint-Benezet. It is a bridge that goes nowhere, that gained its fame from a misheard lyric about highway robbers. Yet it is an interesting diversion, largely due to the highly informative audioguide, and it gives great views back to town. For the best view of the bridge itself however, climb up to the Rocher des Doms park behind the cathedral. This tranquil area of shady trees, water features and ducks give wonderful (free) views over the forts and towers of French Villeneuve across the water, and the remaining arches of the miraculous bridge as it stands like a pier against the Rhone's flow.

From journal Sur le Pont d'Avignon

Editor Pick

Pont St-Benezet (Avignon)

  • October 22, 2003
  • Rated 3 of 5 by moatway from Riverview, New Brunswick
Pont St-Benezet (Avignon)

The Pont Saint Benezet has a wonderful legend behind it. The story is of a shepherd boy, Benezet, who had the vision of a bridge in the 12th century and who dedicated himself to its construction. Do not, however, believe that a shepherd boy was able to build a bridge across the Rhone. In the 17th century, half of the bridge disappeared in the river, and so it stands today. The bridge is an arresting site from the heights above, but the visitor should really go down to it and walk out along it, just for the view back toward the palace.

The visitor enters the bridge, for a fee, through an entrance gate. There are three arches left over the water. Having passed over the first arch, you arrive at the St. Nicholas Chapel… the chapel is essentially Romanesque, built in the 16th century while the bridge is Gothic. The chapel is dedicated to St. Nicholas and the Boatmen. Having viewed it, continue to the third arch over the river… it provides a panoramic view of the palais.

You have seen the palace and the bridge, now it’s time to return to the heights and either relax in one of the cafes in the Place de l’Horlage, or if the tourist-bug is still biting, be sure to visit the Cathedrale de Notre-Dame. It is 12th century and sits snugly in a raised position next to the palace. Its most remarkable features are the gravesites of two popes and a more-recently added gilded Madonna but for a large church in such a location, it isn’t particularly notable. The last site on the Place du Palais-du-Papes is the Musee du Petit-Palais, an art museum. Frankly, for me it was one step too far. We opted for the sunshine in the Place de l’Horloge.

From journal Avignon, Arles, Aigues Mortes, Nimes and the Bouches du Rhone

Editor Pick

Pont St. Benezet

  • December 4, 2000
  • Rated 4 of 5 by SadgeArrow from victoria, Texas
Sometimes great travel moments need a little bit of help from the director. I had the right stage and the perfect scene: on the Bridge of St. Benezet sticking out over the Rhone River. Perfect clear skies, a warm sun and a breeze. There was only one thing missing. I needed the right background music.

You know. Like when Elvis starts to sing and a guitar is thrown miraculously from the audience and he's accompanied by an invisible 56-piece orchestra!

Fortunately, this director was prepared. I put on my headphone sets, punched the cassette player clipped to my hip pocket and listened to Songs of the Sephardim, traditional music of the Spanish Jews. Not that the Bridge of St. Benezet has anything to do with Spain or Jews, but the music, a gift from a friend, sounded as old as the bridge and with each step, I stepped farther into time, to the mid-12th century when the bridge was built.

Back then it actually made its way across the Rhone to Villeneuve-les-Avignon. But in 1669, half of the bridge fell into the river and it was never rebuilt. So the story goes, the bridge was the product of a vision of a shepherd boy named Benezet.

From journal Avignon: The Pope Slept Here

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