The Pont Saint-Bénézet also known as the Pont d'Avignon was a medieval bridge across the Rhône in…read morethe town of Avignon, in southern France. Only four arches survive. I don't know why is so famous, maybe because of the song, but I said...I need to take a picture of it...and several I did..
A wooden bridge spanning the Rhône between Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Avignon was built between 1177 and 1185. This early bridge was destroyed forty years later in 1226 during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon. Beginning in 1234 the bridge was rebuilt with 22 stone arches.
The stone bridge was about 980 yd in length and only 16 ft 1 in in width, including the parapets at the sides. The bridge was abandoned in the mid-17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhône flooded making it very expensive to maintain.
Four arches and the gatehouse at the Avignon end of the bridge have survived....and it's a tourist mecca. Many people get on, take pictures, stroll around the area.
