"The Pierre-Corneille Bridge is a road bridge over the Seine in Rouen.
It is located downstream from the Mathilde bridge and upstream from the Boieldieu bridge.
It connects the right bank to the left bank by resting on the island Lacroix. Road access is open at avenue Jacques-Chastellain.
It allows passage to two lanes of automobile traffic as well as two sidewalks. The speed is limited to 50 km / h. Its presence allows the continuity of the departmental road 840 of the Rouen - Verneuil-sur-Avre axis.
In 1789, a new bridge was designed by the engineer Lamandé and Drapier. During his visit in 1810, Napoleon I promised the creation of the Pont de Pierre. The site, which spanned from 1813 to 1829, received a visit from the Empress Marie-Louise in the first year. The district of L'Ile Lacroix owes its origin to the establishment of this bridge.
The bridge is made up of two flights of three arches that span the river. At the tip of Ile Lacroix, in the middle of the bridge, a median has been built. A 15-meter-high lighthouse is initially planned, then the Louqsor obelisk, and finally a column commemorating the capture of the Trocadero. Finally, in 1834, a bronze statue of Corneille by Pierre-Jean David d'Angers was installed.
Called "Pont de Pierre" during its construction, it took several names over time: the "Circonflex bridge" (because of its shape), the "Angoulême bridge", the "Orleans bridge" in 1830 before becoming the “Corneille Bridge” in 1848.
On June 9, 1940, the French engineers destroyed it when the German army entered the city.
The statue of Corneille is moved in front of the Theater des Arts.
Rebuilt as a “Pierre-Corneille bridge”, the work of art was inaugurated on July 19, 1952 by André Morice, minister, Jean Mairey, prefect of Seine-Inférieure, and Jacques Chastellain, mayor of Rouen. The railing was designed by Raymond Subes."