This was first built of wood, then towards the middle of the fourteenth century, of stone. The Chapel to the Virgin on one of the piles has been in existence since the seventeenth century. It escaped destruction in the troubled times of the Revolution in consequence, it is said, of the prudent substitution of the busts of Marat and Robespierre for the statue of the Virgin.
There is a pretty view of the Ornain from the bridge; but in order to see the bridge itself in its most picturesque aspect, take a few steps along the edge of the south bank, whence the photo below was taken.
Notre-Dame
This church may be seen from the bridge. Parts of it date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, whilst one front and one tower belong to the eighteenth. The bas-relief of the façade representing the Assumption belongs to 1750. In the interior, in the right branch of the transept, is an interesting fifteenth century bas-relief representing the Virgin and symbolic figures.
NOTRE-DAME BRIDGE
(Photo L. L.)
THE UPPER TOWN
