The oldest bridge in Paris covered with more than 40,000 square meters of fabric, its arches, parapets and lampposts transformed into a monumental, walkable, soft and luminous sculpture. This description inevitably recalls 1985 and the inauguration images of The Pont Neuf Wrapped, one of the most iconic works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the masters of wrapping who negotiated for more than a decade with the City of Paris to envelop the Pont Neuf over the Seine.

Yet this time it is not them. Now it is French artist JR—who previously turned the Duomo of Naples into a photographic tribute to its citizens—who will intervene on the city’s first stone bridge. The project, titled La Caverne du Pont Neuf, will open on June 6, 2026, and is already shaping up to be one of the year’s most memorable contemporary art installations.

The Pont Neuf—literally “new bridge”—was completed in 1607 and was the first bridge in the capital built in Lutetian limestone, the celebrated “Paris stone” quarried from the city’s underground basins. It was also the first bridge equipped with pedestrian sidewalks, designed to facilitate urban crossing as early as the 17th century. In short, it is a symbol tied to the city’s very foundations, to its subterranean construction, and to the idea—revived through the 2024 Olympics—of a livable, walkable Paris built for its citizens.

JR

JR’s La Caverne du Pont Neuf pays tribute to all this: a subterranean path marked by a monumental entrance visible from many vantage points across the city, from the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. On the outside, the reference to The Pont Neuf Wrapped—which marked its 40th anniversary in 2025—is explicit, but the strategy shifts. While in 1985 the bridge was simply wrapped, JR instead builds around the crossing a monumental double-wall pneumatic structure, kept in shape by continuous ventilation, whose exterior simulates a rocky surface in trompe-l’œil, like an artificial cave.

It is above all inside that the project distances itself from its historic predecessor. The first innovation is the collaboration with Snap Inc. AR Studio Paris, the augmented reality studio that will transform the crossing into an immersive, co-creative experience activated through an app. The second—and real highlight—concerns sound: JR has enlisted Thomas Bangalter, one half of the late Daft Punk, the electronic duo among Paris’s global cultural symbols, to develop a diffused electroacoustic environment accompanying visitors along the entire passage.

In short, while Christo and Jeanne-Claude worked through subtraction, emphasizing the bridge’s existing form, JR instead constructs an autonomous immersive environment—a kind of swelling of the bridge itself. “Crossing the Caverne will be like undertaking a symbolic passage, a journey within oneself,” the artist explained.

The installation will occupy approximately 2,400 square meters, with a structure 120 meters long and up to 18 meters high, created through a pneumatic system using about 18,900 square meters of fabric and 20,000 cubic meters of air, involving up to 800 people across production, engineering and mediation. As with Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s project, the intervention will use no public funds but will be supported by the sale of JR’s works and by private partners, including Snap Inc., Bloomberg Philanthropies and Paris Aéroport, coordinated by the L’Amicale des Ponts de Paris fund.

The installation will be free and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can be crossed on foot or by bicycle. Guided tours and digital guides will also be organized on site with the support of Paris Aéroport and Bloomberg Connects.