This impressive suspension bridge spans the Loire between La Chapelle-aux-Naux and Langeais and was originally completed in 1849. The bridge has been repaired and rebuilt many times and has a two-lane road over the Loire. On the Langeais side, a walk along the banks of the Loire, on both sides of the bridge, is highly recommended.
The Langeais bridge is a stubborn bridge. It has been rebuilt five times!
The story begins in 1848, the year in which King Louis Philippe authorised the construction of a "wire bridge", as it was then called (bridge 1). But wires are excellent lightning conductors! And 10 years after its opening in 1859, the bridge collapsed into the Loire after a heavy storm, its deck and suspension elements.
Two years later in 1861, the bridge was repaired and operational again as a toll bridge (bridge 2).
But shortly afterwards, in 1870, war broke out and the advance of the Prussian enemy had to be slowed down. Boom! Bridge was blown up (bridge 3)
The fourth was completed in 1914, but then came the... car! They were heavy, they came and went! The bridge therefore had to be extensively rebuilt to bear the weight of modernity. This happened in the 1930s, and the opportunity was taken to decorate the bridge with its very special Gothic pillars, which reflected the Gothic style of the castle; the two form a mirror image. Bridge 4 was built!
All is well, all is well... but then it is June 1940. And this time it is the Germans who have to be stopped. To stop the invader, the bridge was blown up again.
After first using a ferry and then a temporary footbridge, the inhabitants waited until 1949 for a bridge over the Loire (bridge 5). The bridge of Langeais is the only bridge between Tours and Port Boulet. It is now a rather imposing bridge with a turbulent history.
The Langeais suspension bridge is a magnificent construction made of arched piles, adorned with turrets, connected by long steel threads.
Over the past 150 years, the bridge has had to be rebuilt five times. Meteorological events or exceptional floods of the Loire, the one that used to be called the "Wire Bridge" has long been the victim of Mother Nature's wrath.
Now solidified, it remains a remarkable bridge. Apart from that of the A85 motorway, the Langeais suspension bridge is the only crossing point over the Loire over 45 km, between Tours and Port-Boulet.
Translated by Google •
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