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The Pont Saint-Bénézet ((:pɔ̃ sɛ̃ benezɛ)), also known as the Pont d'Avignon (), is a famous medieval bridge in the town of Avignon, in southern France. A bridge spanning the Rhone between Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Avignon was built between 1177 and 1185. This early bridge was destroyed forty years later during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon. The bridge was rebuilt with 22 stone arches. It was very costly to maintain as the arches tended to collapse when the Rhone flooded. Eventually in the middle of the 17th century the bridge was abandoned. The four surviving arches on the bank of the Rhone are believed to have been built in around 1345 by Pope Clement VI during the Avignon Papacy. The Chapel of Saint Nicholas sits on the second pier of the bridge. It was constructed in the second half of 12th century but has since been substantially altered. The western terminal, the Tour Philippe-le-Bel, is also preserved. The bridge was the inspiration for the song ''Sur le pont d'Avignon'' and is considered a landmark of the city. In 1995, the surviving arches of the bridge, together with the Palais des Papes and Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms were classified as a World Heritage Site. ==History== The bridge spanned the Rhone River between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. It was built between 1177 and 1185, with an original length of some . The bridge was destroyed during the siege of Avignon by Louis VIII of France in 1226 but beginning in 1234 it was rebuilt. Historians have suggested that the earlier bridge may have consisted of a wooden superstructure supported on stone piers and that only when rebuilt was the bridge constructed entirely in stone. The bridge was only in width, including the parapets at the sides.〔.〕 The arches were liable to collapse when the river flooded and were sometimes replaced with temporary wooden structures before being rebuilt in stone. The bridge fell into a state of disrepair during the 17th century. By 1644 the bridge was missing four arches and finally a catastrophic flood in 1669 swept away much of the structure. Since then, its surviving arches have successively collapsed or been demolished, and only four of the initial 22 arches remain. The arches are segmental rather than the semi-circular shape typically used in Roman bridges. Of the remaining arches the largest span is between the third and fourth piles. The piers have cutwaters that are pointed in both the upstream and the downstream direction. These reduce the scour around the piers, one of the main threats to the stability of stone bridges.〔Cathedral, forge, and waterwheel: technology and invention in the Middle Ages By Frances Gies and Joseph Gies (Feb 1994) http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=0060165901〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pont Saint-Bénézet」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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