5. Quais – Pont des Arts

Borgarrölt
Institut de France, Paris

Pont des Arts & Institut de France

Institut de France

Opposite the pedestrian Pont des Arts we come to Institut de France.

The palace was originally built by Le Vau in French 17th C. style, financed by a bequest from the will of cardinal Mazarin. It has for a long time been the home of the influential Académie de France and a few other semi-official clubs of culture.

Pont des Arts

We walk to the middle of the pedestrian Pont des Arts.

From the middle of the bridge there is a delightful view to all directions, upriver, downriver, north to the Louvre and south to the palace of Institut de France.

When we reach the Right bank we save the Louvre for a later walk and turn right a short distance to Place de l’École where we started this walk. We should repeat this walk some evening when the banks and monuments of history are floodlit. No city is more floodlit than Paris. A boat trip would though be the best way of enjoying that spectacle.

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