Pont des Courses
MonumentHidden Treasure
Pont des Courses, located in Saint-Brieuc (Département 22), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Saint-Brieuc, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5182, -2.7240
- Mérimée Reference
- PA22000056
An elegant structure spanning the Gouëdic gorges in Saint-Brieuc, the Pont des Courses combines technical prowess with remarkable integration into the landscape. It was listed as a Historic Monument in 2018.
History
Standing above the verdant gorges of the Gouëdic, in the immediate vicinity of Saint-Brieuc town centre, the Pont des Courses is one of those engineering structures that is as much admired as it is used. In July 2018, the bridge was listed as a Historic Monument, a long-awaited recognition for this emblematic structure of the Brioche landscape. The bridge takes its name from the racecourse that once stretched out nearby, providing the people of Brioch in the 19th and early 20th centuries with a leisure and social area whose echoes can still be heard in local place names. This popular origin gives the monument a doubly valuable heritage dimension: both a testament to Breton civil engineering and a vestige of a social practice that has now disappeared. The experience of visiting the site is striking: from the bridge deck, you can look down into the steep valley carved out by the Gouëdic, a coastal river whose wooded meanders form an unexpected natural setting in the heart of a medium-sized town. Down below, walkers along the gorge's paths discover the structure from a radically different angle, appreciating the boldness of its arches and the sobriety of its curves. Saint-Brieuc, the prefecture of the Côtes-d'Armor department, is no stranger to remarkable bridges - the neighbouring Pont de Souzain shares the same rugged terrain - but the Pont des Courses stands out for the depth of its span and the intensity of the dialogue it maintains with the surrounding plant landscape. In summer and autumn alike, the foliage lining the slopes of the Gouëdic creates a changing backdrop that transforms every passage into a new experience.
Architecture
The Pont des Courses belongs to the large family of masonry arch bridges, characteristic of 19th-century French civil engineering. Its structure is based on round or segmental arches - a morphology adapted to the topographical constraints of the Breton gorges - built from local granite, a rock that is ubiquitous in the Côtes-d'Armor region and particularly prized for its resistance to damp and frost. The matching of the voussoirs, carefully cut and grouted, reflects the skills of 19th-century Breton stonemasons. The abutments and piers, if there are several, are built in the same spirit of sober solidity, without superfluous ornamentation but with attention to proportions that give the whole a discreet elegance. The deck, which is wide enough for crews and pedestrians to pass through, has railings whose profile was modified during the 20th century to meet road safety standards. What strikes the visitor, beyond the technical features alone, is the remarkable height of the structure above the bed of the Gouëdic, giving it the silhouette of an urban viaduct rather than a simple river bridge. This vertical effect, accentuated by the deep gorges and dense plant cover, makes the Pont des Courses an architectural feature in its own right in the Saint-Brieuc landscape.
Related Figures
Ingénieurs des Ponts-et-Chaussées des Côtes-du-Nord (concepteurs présumés de l'ouvrage au XIXe siècle)Édiles municipaux briochins de la Belle Époque (commanditaires liés au développement de l'hippodrome)Promoteurs de l'hippodrome de Saint-Brieuc (figures de la sociabilité sportive locale au XIXe siècle)Militants patrimoniaux des Côtes-d'Armor (acteurs de la procédure d'inscription MH aboutie en 2018)
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Pont des Courses located?
Pont des Courses is located in Saint-Brieuc, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Pont des Courses built?
Pont des Courses dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Pont des Courses open to visitors?
Pont des Courses is currently closed to visitors.