Île de la Cité
The bridge is composed of two separate spans, one of five arches joining the left bank to the "Île de la Cité", another of seven joining the island to the right bank. Old engraved maps of Paris show that the newly built bridge just grazed the downstream tip of the "Île de la Cité"; since then, the natural sandbar building of a mid-river island, aided by stone-faced embankments called "quais", has extended the island. Today the tip of the island is the location of the "Square du Vert-Galant", a small public park named in honour of Henry IV, nicknamed the "Green Gallant".