Pont Valentré

Occitanie · France · Bridge

The master builder of Cahors sold his soul to finish the bridge – then tricked the Devil, who clings to the central tower to this day.

The fortified medieval bridge of Valentré over the Lot at Cahors took nearly seventy years to build, and legend explains why. The impatient master builder struck a pact with the Devil: in exchange for his soul, the fiend would obey his every order until the bridge was finished. As completion neared, the master set him an impossible task – carrying water for the mortar in a sieve. The cheated Devil took revenge by tearing out the topmost stone of the central tower every night, so the bridge could never be completed. During the 1879 restoration the architect had a small stone devil set into the tower corner, where it still clings, forever pinned to its stone.

FAQ

Where is Pont Valentré located?

Pont Valentré is in Occitanie, France.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Benjamin Smith / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons