An unmissable mechanical spectacle on the Old Port, the Gabut lifting bridge stands at the entrance to the Bassin des Chalutiers, linking the city centre to the university quarter of Ville-en-Bois. This Scherzer-type structure — named after the American engineer who devised the system — was built in 1927 by the Fives-Lille works for the port of Marseille, then shipped to La Rochelle in 1936 to replace an earlier swing bridge. Its mesmerising mechanism pivots like a drawbridge on a transverse axis: two toothed arcs driven by enormous counterweights roll along their rack to raise the deck and clear a navigable passage of 16.50 metres. Fully restored in 2004–2005 and again in 2019–2020, it rises several times a day before the eyes of passers-by, delivering a unique feat of engineering that is woven into La Rochelle's maritime identity.
Activity added by the Oxploria team
