1958 Sur le Pont d'Avignon

On the way to Juan Les Pins, we made a detour to Avignon, to see "le pont d'Avignon".  After singing the song for so many years, how could we not go? 



♪ Sur Le Pont D'Avignon ♪
Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse, on y danse

Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse tous en rond
Les beaux messieurs font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.
Les belles dames font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.
Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse, on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse tous en rond.
 

It's actually called le Pont Saint-Benezet, and was built between 1175 and 1185.  It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, but finally fell into disrepair.  The four surviving arches on the bank of the Rhone were built around 1345.  The Chapel de Saint Nicholas is on the second pier of the bridge.


Eventually in the middle of the 17th century the bridge was abandoned. The four surviving arches on the bank of the Rhône are believed to have been built in around 1345.  In 1995, the surviving arches of the bridge, along with the Palais des Papes and Cathedrale Notre-Dame des Dome, were designated as a World Heritage Site.