The equestrian statue of Henri IV stands at the western tip of the Île de la Cité, on Pont Neuf, Paris's oldest surviving bridge despite its name meaning "new bridge."

The king depicted is one of France's more complicated monarchs. Born Protestant, he converted to Catholicism to claim the throne, reportedly remarking that Paris was worth a Mass. Before that, he had starved the city into submission, blockading food supplies until Parisians, too hungry to care about religion, finally accepted him.

One of the bas-relief panels at the statue's base shows Henri arriving with bread for the people of Paris. It omits the detail that he was the one who had made them starve.
He was assassinated in his carriage in 1610 by a fanatical Catholic. His killer's subsequent punishment was among the most prolonged and gruesome in French history.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use the statue to trace Henri IV's contradictory legacy, connecting the Pont Neuf to the Place des Vosges and the broader transformation of Paris he set in motion.