The Pont Saint-Michel is a bridge in Paris that links the southern bank of the Seine with the Île de la Cité.
History
The first iteration of the Pont Saint-Michel was built around 1378, during a calmer period of the Hundred Years' War. It was named after the small nearby chapel of Saint-Michel in the enclosure of the Palais de la Cité, which gave its name to the surrounding Saint-Michel district. The Pont Saint-Michel was also the first fixed bridge that linked the Île de la Cité to the southern bank of the Seine. Like all of its contemporary bridges, it was fragile and often damaged by floods.
During the French Revolution, a band of thugs enforced a toll for crossing the Pont Saint-Michel and the other bridges leading in and out of the Île de la Cité. In order to end the extortion, the Assassin Council of the Parisian Brotherhood had Arno Dorian kill the thug captains in charge of the toll. During this period, the bridge was lined with 32 houses, which were demolished in 1809, over two decades after an order was issued to remove all houses on Parisian bridges.