About This Location
Step onto the bridge and slow down. Pont Alexandre III is built to make an entrance. It links the area of Les Invalides to the Champs-Élysées side, and it was designed as a showpiece for the 1900 Exposition Universelle - the moment Paris wanted to look modern, rich, and unstoppable. Look along the deck and notice something unusual for Paris: the bridge sits very low over the Seine. That was not an accident. The engineers and architects were told not to block the grand sightlines - so the view from the Champs-Élysées toward Les Invalides would stay open, and the golden dome could still command the skyline. The result is a single-span steel arch that feels elegant and almost effortless. Now focus on the decoration. The Beaux-Arts structure is covered with Belle Époque drama - Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs, and sea creatures that make the bridge feel like an outdoor museum. At each corner, tall pylons carry gilded statues of “Fames,” and above them, winged horses strain forward as if they could lift the whole bridge into the air. There is also diplomacy hidden in the name. The bridge honors Tsar Alexander III of Russia, linked to the Franco-Russian Alliance, and his son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. Standing here, that political gesture has turned into something softer - a place for slow walks, proposals, and that classic Paris moment when the river reflects gold and stone. Take one last look back and forth: the dome of Les Invalides on one side, the Grand Palais direction on the other, and the Seine flowing under your feet. This whole river corridor is part of the UNESCO-listed “Paris, Banks of the Seine,” protected for exactly these layered views.