Every French people know the bridge of Avignon, even if a majority never saw it for real. The song made it famous but a majority does not know its real name, the Saint Bénezet bridge. Commissioned by an angel to a young shepherd named Bénezet, this bridge had since the Middle Ages, a primordial role for the city of Avignon. First bridge over the Rhone river from the sea, it was the border between Villeneuve and Avignon but especially between France and the Holy Roman Empire. The bridge will be rebuilt as often as destroyed by the powerful water of the river. A last flood in the 17th century left it on these 4 arches protected by the chapels of Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Bénezet. Today you will always hear some visitors mumbling while holding hands « Sur le pont d’Avignon on y danse, on y danse. Sur le pont d’Avignon on y danse tous en rond ».
