PARIS (AP) 鈥� For weeks, a black mountain where Paris鈥� oldest bridge should have been. On Monday evening, its doors finally opened.
Inside, Paris smells different. The air carries the scent of earth after rain 鈥� damp ancient stone, cellar walls, perhaps a trace of smoke.
Visitors step from the bright riverfront into a dark passage lined with glowing photographs of caves, as a low electronic pulse seems to breathe through the walls.
Beneath it all, the old cobblestones of the Pont Neuf rise and fall underfoot.
The Pont Neuf Cavern, 鈥� also known as the French Banksy 鈥� is free to enter around the clock through June 28.
Made largely from printed fabric and air, it transforms the 17th-century bridge into an artificial cavern rising 18 meters (59 feet) above .
鈥淚t feels like the city has disappeared,鈥� said L茅a Martin, a 22-year-old art student from Lyon on Tuesday. 鈥淵ou know the river is right outside, but for a moment you鈥檙e somewhere ancient.鈥�
Paris steps in and sniffs history
The smell is central to the illusion.
Olfactory expert Sarah Bouasse created two shifting scents: drawing on geosmin and isoborneol, compounds associated with the aroma released when rain strikes dry earth.
It changes along the crossing: first wet earth and mineral dampness, then something warmer, smokier and faintly animal.
鈥淯sually I cross here without looking up once,鈥� said Michel Dupr茅, a 67-year-old retiree, blinking as he emerged into daylight. 鈥淭oday I felt the stones under my feet. And smelled them too. It makes you walk like a child again.鈥�
A sound installation by Thomas Bangalter, formerly of the French electronic duo , accompanies the work, filling the cavern with low rumbles, echoes and pulses.
Completed in 1607, the Pont Neuf 鈥� despite its name, 鈥淣ew Bridge鈥� 鈥� is the oldest bridge still standing in .
JR鈥檚 installation asks people to experience the familiar crossing through their noses, ears and feet.
It also pays tribute to and Jeanne-Claude, whose 1985 wrapping of the bridge in pale golden fabric drew an estimated 3 million visitors.
Their work covered the Pont Neuf in light.
The dark side
JR sends visitors into darkness.
鈥淵ou enter into the darkness,鈥� he has said, 鈥渁nd emerge into the light on the other side.鈥�
Visitors can also raise their phones to activate an augmented-reality experience developed with tech company Snap.
Digital bats trail light through the cave, passing bodies leave ghostly traces and a dancer materializes in space.
JR has linked the work to Plato鈥檚 allegory of the cave, in which prisoners mistake shadows for reality. Today鈥檚 cave walls, he argues, are screens and the algorithms that shape what people see. Yet the installation鈥檚 strongest effects require no phone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 completely strange,鈥� said Nadia Benali, 34, smiling beside the artificial cliffs. 鈥淧aris needs things that make people stop.鈥�
When the cave closes, its fabric will be reused or recycled.
The mountain will vanish, traffic will return and the Pont Neuf 鈥� older than the French Revolution 鈥� will emerge into the light once more.
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