View source for Passerelle Debilly

{{Short description|Bridge in Paris, France}}
{{Infobox_Bridge
|bridge_name=Passerelle Debilly
|image=Passerelle Debilly, Paris 5 November 2019.jpg
|caption=
|official_name=Passerelle Debilly
|carries=[[Pedestrian]]s
|crosses=[[Seine]]
|locale=[[Paris]], [[France]]
|maint=[[Civil Service]]
|id=
|design= [[Through arch bridge]]
|mainspan= 
|length= 125 m (410 ft)
|width= 8 m (26 ft)
|height=
|clearance= 
|below= 
|traffic=
|open=1900
|closed=
|toll=
|map_cue=
|map_image=
|map_text=
|map_width=
|coordinates= {{coord|48|51|45.56|N|02|17|48.68|E|region:FR_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|lat=
|long=
| downstream = [[Pont d'Iéna]]
| upstream = [[Pont de l'Alma]]
}}

[[File:Passerelle Debilly from Pont d'Iéna, Paris, Aug 2010.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Passerelle Debilly from Pont d'Iéna]]
The '''Passerelle Debilly''' ({{IPA|fr|pasʁɛl dəbili}}, {{gloss|Debilly Footbridge}}) is a [[through arch bridge]] in [[Paris]] spanning the [[Seine]]. It is a [[footbridge]] that connects the ''quai de New York'' to the ''quai Branly'', close to the [[Eiffel Tower]].

==History==

In order to accommodate visitor traffic to the 1900 [[World's Fair]] across the [[Seine]], the General Commissioner of the Exposition, [[Alfred Picard]], approved the construction of a provisional footbridge opposite the Avenue Albert de Mun, to join the Army and Navy Halls to the exhibit recreating old Paris. Its architect, [[Jean Résal]], also designed the [[Pont Alexandre III]] and the [[Viaduc d'Austerlitz]].  

The Debilly footbridge had, as well, a succession of provisional names.  It was initially called ''passerelle de l'Exposition Militaire'' or ''passerelle de Magdebourg'', only later ''passerelle Debilly'', after [[Jean Louis Debilly|General Jean Louis Debilly]] of the [[First French Empire|French First Empire]] who was killed in the [[Battle of Jena-Auerstedt|Battle of Jena]] in 1806. The bridge became a permanent fixture from its original provisional status under the management of the City of Paris in 1906 after it was relocated opposite to the ''rue de la Manutention''. 

The footbridge is built on a metallic framework resting on two [[masonry|stone]] [[Pier (architecture)|piers]] at the riverbanks, and decorated with dark green ceramic tiles arranged in a fashion that suggests the impression of waves. Along with the [[Eiffel Tower]], this is the second metallic structure that stands as an attestation to the engineering achievements of its epoch. Nevertheless, in 1941, the Debilly footbridge was threatened with disappearance when the president of the architectural society characterized it as ''a forgotten accessory of a past event''. As a contemporary of the [[Pont Alexandre III]] and the [[Viaduc d'Austerlitz|Austerlitz Viaduct]], the Passerelle Debilly was eventually included in the supplementary registry of historical monuments in 1966.

The bridge was repainted in 1991 and its cladding resurfaced with hard tropical wood in 1997.

===German diplomat===
In 1989, a German diplomat working for the Secret Service of the [[East Germany|Democratic Republic of Germany]] was found dead on this footbridge, several days after the Fall of the [[Berlin Wall]]. As it turned out, the footbridge was used as a secret gathering place for the secret service agents of East Germany during the [[Cold War]]. It is certainly one of the reasons that pushed [[Brian De Palma]] to shoot a scene of his thriller ''[[Femme Fatale (2002 film)|Femme Fatale]]'' on that footbridge in 2002.

==Access==
[[Image:Paris-Ponts-Debilly.png|thumb|Location on the Seine]]
{{station paris metro|Iéna}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Paris Eiffel Tower viewed from Passerelle Debilly.jpg|[[Eiffel Tower]] viewed from Passerelle Debilly
File:Passerelle Debilly from Iena.JPG|Passerelle Debilly from Iena
File:Passerelle Debilly in Paris 001.JPG|The interior of Passerelle Debilly
File:Passerelle Debilly.jpg|Passerelle Debilly at night
File:Passerelle Debilly October 2009.jpg|Debilly Footbridge from Eiffel Tower
File:P1030759 Paris XVI port Debilly-passerelle Debilly tour Eiffel.JPG|From Port Debilly.
</gallery>

==External links==
{{commonscat|Passerelle Debilly}}
* [http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lut?page_id=8277&document_type_id=4&document_id=34707&portlet_id=19143&multileveldocument_sheet_id=7862 Bridge History]
* [http://40daysinparis.blogspot.com/2006/06/passerelle-debilly-moveable-bridge.html Tourism Information about the bridge]
* [http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0000231 Technical Specifications]

{{Bridges in Paris}}
{{1900 Paris Exposition}}
{{1937 Paris International Exposition of Arts and Techniques Applied to Modern Life}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debilly}}
[[Category:Bridges over the River Seine in Paris]]
[[Category:Pedestrian bridges in France]]
[[Category:Bridges completed in 1900]]
[[Category:Through arch bridges in France]]