A Cavern on the Seine: A Guide to Paris’s Largest June Art Event on Pont Neuf

The Pont Neuf will have a three-week make-over in June 2026. From June 6 and 28, Paris will host a monumental art installation in hommage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1985 “Pont Neuf Wrapped” event. Prepare to take a Parisian stroll, weaving your way through a cavern that will envelope the oldest and first paved, stone bridge across the Seine. Due to the winding route, you will not see the end of the tunnel until you arrive at the end. 

The bridge will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. June in Paris has incredibly long days (the sun doesn’t set until after 10 p.m.), and seeing the air-filled fabric glowing at night will be a major highlight!

The air-filled “La Caverne du Pont Neuf” will be visible beyond the Pont Neuf across Paris due to its height of 12 meters at its lowest point and 17 meters at its highest. This will be a free experience walking through the cavern, using the Bloomberg Connects  and Snap’s digital/AR application elements required to see the “invisible” art and provide a complete experience.

Traffic disruptions will begin gradually starting Monday May 4 on Pont-Neuf. The Police Prefecture will be setting up the security system. The installation will begin on May 11. Pont-Neuf will be closed to pedestrian, bicycle and car traffic. 

On June 6 The Cavern of Pont-Neuf will open to the public and become accessible, free of charge and open seven days a week to pedestrians until the evening of Sunday, June 28.

One Way Only and Only One Entrance

The route will be one way only. The entrance will be at the Place du Pont Neuf-Christo and Jeanne-Claude and the exit will be on the Louvre side. Dismantling will begin the morning of Monday, June 29 and conclude on Monday July 13.

JR previewed the work recently in a hanger at Orly Airport. They deployed a 15-meter-high prototype to test all the technical and artistic components of the artwork.

JR was three years old when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Pont Neuf. However, during his career, JR met Christo several times. They had a mutual admiration and understanding of their works. 

In 2025 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation and L’Amicale des Ponts de Paris initiated the project, approaching JR to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pont Neuf Wrapped. The artwork will be financed by private patronage, including Snap Inc., Bloomberg Philanthropies and Aéroports de Paris without recourse to public funds.

“Funded by the sale of my works, by the Amicale des Ponts de Paris and private supporters, it will not use any public funds. You will be able to access it free of charge 24/7 throughout the three weeks of the presentation,” JR explains.

The contemporary artist, photographer and director, JR, will collaborate with Thomas Bangalter. for the sensory acoustical sound. Mr. Bangalter, a multidisciplinary artist and composer, was also a member of the musical duo, Daft Punk. He has worked with JR on other projects such as the Retour à la Caverne (Return to the Cave)   on the facade of the Paris Opera (2023).

For JR, La Caverne du Pont Neuf will be a crowning moment in an artistic cycle that began in 2020, several trompe-l’oeil artworks, creating breaches in the facades of iconic buildings, with La Ferita in Florence (2021), Punto di Fuga in Rome (2021), and La Nascita in Milan (2024). This approach also inspired the creation of Retour à la Caverne (Return to the Cave) on the facade of the Paris Opera (2023).

Alongside the presentation of La Caverne du Pont Neuf, Parisians and visitors will also be able to discover a new exhibition by JR at the Perrotin gallery, in its Marais space (76 rue de Turenne, 3rd arrondissement), from June 5 to August 1. For this fifth exhibition with the gallery, the artist will present new artworks that echo the titanic project of La Caverne du Pont Neuf, while also highlighting the technical richness of JR’s work.

The Lutetian limestone, known as Paris stone, was used to build this bridge between 1578 and 1607. The quarry was one of the inspirations for JR’s La Caverne. Quarried in the Paris basin, the limestone was also used to build many of Paris’s buildings and monuments.

The Pont Neuf was also the first bridge in the city to be equipped with paved sidewalks, thus facilitating pedestrian traffic and Parisian urban life. It was once filled with shops and the Samaritaine water pump. Some of the original 361 mascaron faces from the Renaissance period, late 16th century, can be found in the Musée Carnavalet and the Renaissance museum of Château d’Écouen. The copies on today’s Pont Neuf are from the 19th century and various artists.

Depending on which guided tour you take, it could be the lovers of a French King’s wife or enemies of another French king.