The first Pont de Saint-Cloud appeared in 841 because of a conflict between
Charles the Bald et
Lothaire I; it consisted of a wooden bridge supporting several mills. Although the Seine has been traversable at this location for twelve centuries, tradition holds that no king of France has traversed it on the bridge without suffering a sudden death. As a result, sovereigns crossed the Seine by boat. The wooden bridge was demolished after the death of
François I. In 1556 his son
Henri II constructed a new stone bridge consisting of eleven arches. This bridge was in turn demolished during
the Second Fronde and replaced with a bridge made of wooden arches.
Napoléon ordered its renovation in 1808, giving it a new width of . It was again reconstructed in 1940, expanded another for a total width of . The single-piece deck crosses the entire river, supported by six columns of reinforced concrete. To facilitate circulation across the banks, underground passages have been built on the two sides of the river. A
Métro station,
Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud, the western terminus of
Line 10 in Boulogne-Billancourt, has been named after the bridge. ==Painting==