The Pont Neuf Wrapped

Completed on September 22, 1985 by a staff of 300 professional workers The Pont Neuf was wrapped with 454,178 square feet of woven polyamide fabric. The fabric covered: the sides and vaults of the 12 arches, the parapets down to the ground, the sidewalks and curbs, the street lamps on both sides, the vertical part of the embankment of the western tip of the Île de la Cité, and the Esplanade of the Vert-Galant.

Christo
The Pont Neuf, Wrapped
(Project for Paris)
Drawing 1985 in two parts
15 x 96" and 42 x 96" (38 x 244 cm and 106.6 x 244 cm)
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1985 Christo
Ref. # 54

Tied down by 8 miles of rope and secured by 12.1 tons of steel chain around the base of each tower and 3.3 feet underwater, the fabric stayed covering The Pont Neuf for 14 days.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1985 Christo

Christo and Jeanne-Claude designed this masterpiece to maintain the principal shapes of the bridge while accentuating relief and emphasizing proportions and details of the bridge itself. The Pont Neuf has connected the left and right banks of the Île de la Cité for over 400 years in the heart of Paris.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1985 Christo