Crosses Tech River Construction begin 1321 Clearance below 22 m Phone +33 4 68 87 00 53 | Design stone arch bridge Construction end 1341 Location Céret Bridge type Arch bridge | |
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Locale Céret, Pyrénées-Orientales, France Longest span 45.45 metres (149.1 ft) Address Place du Pont, 66400 Céret, France Similar Fort de Bellegarde, Tech, Museum of Musical Instrumen, Musée d'Art Moderne, Pont du Diable - Hérault | ||
The Pont du Diable (English: Devil's bridge) or Pont Vieux (English: Old bridge) is a medieval stone arch bridge at Céret, France, built between 1321 and 1341. It spans the river Tech with a single arch of 45.45 metres (149.1 ft). At its apex the arch is 22.3 metres (73 ft) high.
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History
At the time of its construction it became the world's largest bridge arch, being bigger than the Ponte della Maddalena in Italy which held the world record until then. It remained so until 1356, when the Castelvecchio Bridge in Verona (Italy) became the new largest bridge. Damaged during the war of the First Coalition (1792-1797), French general Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert wanted to blow it up to keep the Spanish army from going back to Catalonia. The bridge was saved just before being destroyed thanks to the action of Representative Joseph Cassanyes and restored later.
Legend
The locals wanted a bridge to be built across the river and called upon the devil to build it for them. The devil agreed on the condition that he would claim the first soul to cross the bridge. Once the bridge was built the locals sent a cat across for the devil to claim its soul. Then for many years afterwards no person would cross, just in case – a legend common to many devil's bridges in France.