The first construction element of the Saint-Bénézet bridge is the pillar built at the end of the 12th century to accommodate the Saint Bénezet chapel and convert it into a place of pilgrimage accessible on foot around the relics of the saint. The erection of the rest of the structure was delayed and would have started in the 1230s and lasted several centuries. Built on pebble beds along a winding path, the original 22-arched bridge was approximately 2,952 ft (900 m) long. King Louis XIV would have been one of the last to cross it before its collapse in the 17th century.