Berlioz in Paris
Pont Neuf
This is one of the many bridges over the river Seine, at the western end of the Île de la Cité. In the middle of the bridge, which is not very far from Boulevard Saint-Michel, stands a statue of Henry IV, one of the Ancien Régime kings. Berlioz would sometimes eat his meager lunch on the steps at the foot of the statue when he was a student. At the time (in 1825-6) he was living at 27 rue de Harlay nearby, at the corner of the Quai des Orfèvres (the building and the number have now disappeared). Here is an extract from his Memoirs referring to this period, when relations with his family were strained and money was short:
[...] I established an austere régime of meals which cost only seven or eight sous a time and generally consisted of bread with raisins, prunes or dates. It was summer. I bought my delicacies at the nearby grocer’s and usually took them to the little terrace on the Pont Neuf, at the foot of Henry IV’s statue. There I sat and, trying not to think of the boiled chicken which the good king wished his peasants to have for their Sunday dinner, ate my frugal meal, watching the sun go down behind Mont Valérien, gazing entranced on the endless play of light and reflection on the waters of the shining Seine as it glided before me, my head full of splendid images from Thomas Moore’s poetry, which I had just discovered in a translation and was devouring for the first time (chapter 11).
The statue of Henri IV
Gardens below the statue
The Pont des Arts, leading to the Institut de
France on the left, can be seen
in the distance.
Gardens below the statue from the Pont des Arts
The bridge is the Pont Neuf; the statue of Henri IV is concealed by the trees of the gardens.
© 2000-2006 (unless otherwise stated) Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb for all the photos, engravings and information on this and other Berlioz in Paris pages
Back to Berlioz in Paris main page