How JR Transformed Paris’s Oldest Bridge Into a Massive Grotto
French artist JR transformed Paris’s Pont Neuf—the city’s oldest bridge over the Seine and its first built from stone—into a trompe l’oeil “grotto” installation titled La Caverne du Pont Neuf (2026). The work measures 120 meters long and 20 meters wide, reaching 18 meters tall in places, and is set to welcome visitors inside starting June 6 with sound and augmented-reality elements; more than 800 people reportedly helped realize it. The project concludes JR’s five-year series of large-scale illusionistic works, following La Ferita (2021) in Florence, Punto di Fuga (2021) in Rome, and La Nascita (2024) in Milan, and it references Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris (1975–85) with the blessing of their foundation. The L’Amicale des Ponts de Paris endowment fund spearheaded the project with support from Snap Inc., Bloomberg Philanthropies, Paris Aéroport, and Salesforce.
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This story was covered in Auction Fever, Museums in the Crossfire