Pont St Benzet (St Benezet Bridge) Avignon

Avignon is in south of France. It has a very interesting history being one of the oldest cities of France, its history dates back to some thousands of centuries. Pont St Benzet (St Benezet Bridge), Avignon is one of the most fascinating attractions of the city. It is actually a very old, famous medieval bridge that spans less than half of the Rhone River between Avignon and Villeneuve-les-Avignon . It was built some time in 1171 AD to 1185 AD. When the bridge was built, it had a length of two thousand nine hundred and fifty feet. The bridge had many arches, they numbered to twenty two, but now only four of those arches remain. Subsequent floods had led to the collapse of the arches and they were reconstructed many times. By the time it was 1660 in Gregorian calendar, majority of the arches were missing and the state remaining arches were beyond repair.

The concept of the bridge's (Pont St Benzet (St Benezet Bridge), Avignon) was by Saint Benezet . According to one legend, he was a local shepherd boy who was instructed by the angels to build a bridge across Rhone River. The people did not believe him but he proved everyone wrong by incredibly lifting a huge block of stone. A Bridge Brotherhood was formed to fund the construction of the bridge. After the death of the local shepherd boy (he was awarded sainthood), he was interred on the bridge itself. The exact place of his interment is a small chapel which stands on one of Pont St Benzet (St Benezet Bridge) surviving piers on the Avignon side.

The bridge has a religious significance as well as it was revered by Rhone River boatmen, their patron saint was St. Nicholas . These boatmen originally worshipped in the Chapel of St Nicholas on the bridge itself but with the bridge becoming dilapidated with each passing season made it very difficult for the clergy to conduct the services. The fear of the bridge collapsing was a great deterrent.