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Mysterious sculpture recovered from River Seine

A block of stone which French river police lifted from around the oldest bridge le Pont Neuf in Paris lays on the bank of the River Seine Thursday Nov. 20 2014. French authorities have found a mysterious stone sculpture at the bottom of the River Seine, which may have been there for centuries. On Thursday night, water police pulled the 2-foot-by-nearly-3-foot (60 centimeter-by-90 centimeter) sculpture of a human figure with wavy hair from the depths of the river. It was discovered by a diver in September. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
A block of stone which French river police lifted from around the oldest bridge le Pont Neuf in Paris lays on the bank of the River Seine Thursday Nov. 20 2014. French authorities have found a mysterious stone sculpture at the bottom of the River Seine, which may have been there for centuries. On Thursday night, water police pulled the 2-foot-by-nearly-3-foot (60 centimeter-by-90 centimeter) sculpture of a human figure with wavy hair from the depths of the river. It was discovered by a diver in September. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) A block of stone which French river police lifted from around the oldest bridge le Pont Neuf in Paris lays on the bank of the River Seine Thursday Nov. 20 2014. French authorities have found a mysterious stone sculpture at the bottom of the River Seine, which may have been there for centuries. On Thursday night, water police pulled the 2-foot-by-nearly-3-foot (60 centimeter-by-90 centimeter) sculpture of a human figure with wavy hair from the depths of the river. It was discovered by a diver in September. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

By Associated Press 1 min read

PARIS (AP) – French authorities have found a mysterious stone sculpture at the bottom of the River Seine, which may have been there for centuries.

On Thursday night, water police pulled the 2-foot-by-nearly-3-foot (60 centimeter-by-90- centimeter) sculpture of a human figure with wavy hair from the depths of the river beneath Paris’ oldest standing bridge, the Pont-Neuf.

The sculpture was discovered by a diver in September.

Experts have not had time to identify its age and origin – or even how long it’s been resting in its watery grave. But they believe it could be a stone relief that fell from the original bridge.

The Pont-Neuf – which ironically means “new bridge” in French – was completed in 1607, and adorned with magnificent jutting busts created by the 16th-century sculptor Germain Pilon.