View allAll Photos Tagged LOIRE
Le pont suspendu de Langeais sur la Loire dans la commune de Langeais, Indre-et-Loire.
The Langeais Bridge over the Loire river near the town of Langeais, Indre-et-Loire department of the Centre-Val de Loire region.
This bridge had to be built quite a handful of times. In 1846, on the orders of King Louis Philippe, a bridge was built according to the plans of the architect Vestier. It was opened in 1849, but ten years later, this first bridge was severely damaged by lightning during a summer storm. In 1861, exactly two years after the natural disaster, the bridge was repaired and operational again until the French army blew it up to delay the arrival of the enemies, it was 1870 and France was at war with Prussia. Peace returned eventually and a third bridge was completed in 1874. It was built stronger than the previous ones, but not strong enough for a new invention, the automobile. The bridge was therefore reconstructed from 1934 to 1937, so that it could support the weight of modernity. It was also at this time that the bridge was adorned with its very particular Gothic pillars to match the appearance of the castle. Fast forward to June 1940, the German army was heading south and had to be stopped, so the French army blew up the deck of bridge number four. After that, the locals had to use ferries and from 1946 on a temporary footbridge. In 1951, the 359-metre-long suspension bridge across the Loire was rebuilt and reopened for normal use. Since then, the bridge has done well. In the early 1980s, it was just reinforced and modernised with lights which illuminate the bridge at night.