Jacques Gabriel Bridge

Here you are, standing in front of one of Blois’ most iconic landmarks: the Jacques-Gabriel Bridge. For almost three centuries it’s linked the historic city center to the Vienne district, stretching elegantly across the Loire. Its story begins back in 1716, when a massive flood swept away the old medieval bridge. For the city it was a disaster—no bridge meant no trade. To solve the problem, the town turned to Jacques Gabriel, architect to King Louis XV. His plans were groundbreaking: a grand stone bridge without houses on top, entrusted for the very first time to the newly created Corps of Bridges and Roads. Nearly a thousand men worked on the site, including 600 soldiers from the Piémont regiment, and after seven years of effort the bridge was inaugurated in 1724. Measuring almost 300 meters, it’s easy to spot thanks to its humpbacked shape and the central obelisk, a stone pyramid rising nearly 15 meters high. Over the centuries, the bridge has taken quite a beating—blown up during the Revolution, damaged again in the war of 1870, and once more in World War II—but every time it was rebuilt. Today only three of its arches are original, yet the bridge has never lost its distinctive charm and it’s been protected as a historic monument since 1937.