Pont tournant de la Grange-aux-Belles, Swing bridge in 10th arrondissement of Paris, France.
Pont tournant de la Grange-aux-Belles is a swing bridge across the Canal Saint-Martin in the 10th arrondissement that connects Quai de Valmy with Quai de Jemmapes. Its structure rotates completely around a central axis to allow boats to pass through the waterway.
The bridge was constructed in 1885 as a way to maintain a street connection across the canal while allowing boat traffic to flow. The rotating design was an engineering solution that avoided giving priority to either form of transportation.
The bridge appears in Marcel Carné's 1938 film Hotel du Nord, and the hotel itself still stands across the canal. The movie connection has made this spot familiar to cinema fans who visit to see the original locations.
The mechanism is controlled remotely from the Temple Lock downstream and rotates when boats need to pass through. The best time to watch it in action is during regular canal hours when boat traffic is expected.
Unlike many bridges elsewhere in Europe, this one rotates around a vertical axis rather than lifting or splitting its sections. This makes it a rare example of a fully rotating bridge design in a major city.
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