10 Most Beautiful Bridges in the World

We have come a long way in building bridges to cross a river on a fallen log. The first bridges were built with wooden planks, ropes and stones. Soon, the largest equipment required. Wood and stone bridges gave way to iron and steel in them. Bridge construction techniques also evolved: beam, cantilevered, cable-stayed and suspension bridges - each with advantages that made the right choice for a specific location.

The political fortunes and wars have been lost or by bridges. Throughout history, bridges had been built by engineers and burned as warriors, and crossed by kings and common people alike. Millions of people owe their livelihood bridges, most of them need to convert, but thousands of people who want to end their lives by jumping them every year.

The bridges are in style from classical to modern, they are as much an art as they are marvels of engineering. To celebrate the wonders of "classic" bridges, here are Neatorama picks for the 10 most beautiful bridges in the world:

golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge is a symbol emblematic of San Francisco (and the suspension bridge in general) is difficult to imagine a time when they were not. However, prior to construction, most people thought was impossible.

In 1916, the idea of ​​the bridge spanning the Golden Gate, a narrow strait that separated San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin headlands, was conceived. Although it was almost immediately rejected the cost was estimated at USD 100000000 (astronomical time), a veteran bridge builder named Joseph Strauss, drove more than two decades, it is built.

The Golden Gate Bridge is facing stiff resistance: Department of War thought it would interfere with ship traffic and the Southern Pacific Railroad opposed it as competition to its ferry services. In the first game was even the public does not like the bridge ... because the original design of Strauss was considered ugly! But Strauss finally won, and after 22 years of drumming up support, the bridge was built.

Tower Bridge

It's fun to think about the traffic jams of age, but why the Tower Bridge in London, was built. In the 19th century, the development of the eastern part of London has caused a great burden on London Bridge, the city decided to build a new bridge.

Construction of Tower Bridge began in 1886, led by the architect Sir Horace Jones and engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry. The design was a rocker (draw) bridge with two towers built on pillars so that the bridge does not interefere with port facilities nearby.

A year after construction began, Jones died and his replacement, George D. Barry Stevenson decided to modify the design a bit. Instead of the facade of the original design of brick, the Tower Bridge had a more elaborate Victorian Gothic style, meant to harmonize with the nearby Tower of London.

When the bridge opened in 1894, the public was stunned. H. Heathcote Statham, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, wrote the familiar feeling as: "The Tower Bridge ... vice is the foil and demand, and the falsification of the reality of the structure."

Brooklyn Bridge

In 1855, engineer John Roebling started designing the bridge, then that would be the longest suspension bridge in the world, where the towers of the tallest structures in the Western Hemisphere: the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

Today, the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the main crossroads of the East River and a heavily trafficked bridges in the world. But in the late 19 th century, Roebling has over 14 years to convince the city to build a bridge.

When he got approval, Roebling was important the place where his leg was defeated by ferry. Three weeks before the planned innovative, died of tetanus. His son, an engineer named Washington Roebling took over the project. In 1872 while working on caissons to set the foundations for the towers, Washington fell ill with caisson disease (decompression sickness, commonly known as the "bends"), which left him just to see, speak or write. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling, rose - she learned engineering on the fly and nine years with her husband went to the site to provide directions. Washington is said to watch the construction of his house with binoculars.

When the Brooklyn Bridge was opened, Emily was honored with the name of your first trip over the bridge. He had a rooster, which symbolizes the victory in his arms. Washington has rarely visited the bridge, until his death in 1926.

An interesting note from the Brooklyn Bridge: it was fast, while other bridges were built around the same time had eroded. Designers of a credit system and Roebling bridge trusses six times stronger than he thought it would be!

The Wind and Rain Bridge

Wind and rain bridges were a sort of bridge was built in Dong people (ethnic minority) in China. Because they live in plains and valleys of many rivers, the Dong people are excellent bridge builders. They are called "wind and rain" bridges because the covered bridges not only let people cross the river, but also to protect them from the elements.

Dong people do not use nails or rivets to build these bridges - but they all revolve around a tree. The bigger and more powerful Chenyang Bridge, which spans the river near the village Linx Dong of the country. The bridge is about 100 years, and like all the wind and rain bridges, was built without a single nail.

Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval bridge over the River Arno. In fact, it is much more than a bridge - which is a street market and a benchmark of Florence, Italy. the Ponte Vecchio we know today was built in 1345 by Taddeo Gaddi, after a lapse of age, was destroyed by a flood. To finance the bridge, many along the roads were leased to merchants, especially butchers and tanners, to hawk their wares.

In 1565, Duke Cosimo I de Medici ordered an architect named Giorgio Vasari to build a covered walkway. Soon after, jewelers, goldsmiths and merchants of luxury goods pushed out the butchers of the Ponte Vecchio. Centuries of random additions gave the bridge now distinctive, irregular appearance.

During World War II, having survived many floods of the bridge is facing its greatest threat: the German bombers blow up bridges in Florence. It was a direct order from Hitler that spared Ponte Vecchio from certain destruction.

It is said that the word "bankrupt" came from the Ponte Vecchio. When an operator has not paid his debt, the table ("Bank") is used to sell their merchandise was broken ("Rotto") by soldiers. Do not have a table with more ("bancorotto") means that the seller was in bankruptcy.

Covered Bridges

Covered bridges are simply that: bridges that have closed sides and roof. Om Bro breath techniques, the Ponte Vecchio, and bridges in wind and rain on this list are covered bridges, this term generally refers to simple, single-lane bridges in rural areas.

Prior to 1995 they made famous by Clint Eastwood movie Bridges, Madison County, "kissing bridges" or the "Tunnel of Love" is the pride and joy of many small towns in Europe and especially in North America, with more than tens of thousands of these bridges were built.

In the 19th century, wood was plentiful and cheap (or, in many cases, free). It is therefore natural that these bridges were of wood. But why do they cover? So, fans aside, the real reason was more practical: the wooden beams of the bridge lasted longer when protected from the elements.

Iron Bridge

The iron bridge spanning the River Severn in Shropshire, England, the bridge is not very large or ornate, but it has something that makes it unique: the first bridge made entirely of cast iron.

In the 18th century, Shropshire rich in iron and coal - yes, there were more iron factories in the two mile radius of the city than any other city in the world. This is where the iron was first smelt with coke. It was therefore natural that the bridge would be made of iron, a strong alternative to wood.

Architect Thomas Pritchard Farnolls proposed a single arch bridge that would let boats pass underneath, but he died before the bridge was built. The construction of the Iron Bridge was carried out by a local master ironwork named Abraham Darby III. Approximately 400 tonnes (363 tons) of iron was used, with some 800 separate castings. The Iron Bridge has 5 arch ribs, each cast in two halves. It only took three months to put the pieces together.

The ease and speed of construction of the iron bridge helped convince the engineers of the versatility and strength of iron, and helped usher in the era of industrial revolution. Darby, however, is not so: it has greatly underestimated the cost of building the bridge, and remained in debt for the rest of his life.

Bridge of Sighs

In the 19th century, Lord Byron named a Venetian limestone bridge in the Rio di Palazzo Ducale linking the prison to the interrogation room in the main palace, the Bridge of Sighs (Bridge of Sighs). Apparently, prisoners sigh when I look out the window - with stone bars no less - to see their last view of beautiful Venice before his imprisonment, torture or execution.

In fact, the Doge's prison held mostly petty criminals. In addition, the bridge was built in 1600 by Antonio Contino, after the inquisitions and summary executions days. Legend has it that if lovers kiss on a gondola beneath the Bridge of Sighs at sunset, their love for eternity.

Pont du Gard

Pont du Gard, an aqueduct over the River Gard in southern France, is a masterpiece of Roman engineering. It was not built to transport people (even if there is a pedestrian crossing on it) - instead, he was part of an aqueduct system that brought water complex of more than 30 miles ( 50 km) from the ancient Roman city of Nemausus (currently Nîmes).

Pont du Gard was built by Agrippa (63-12 BC), son-in-law Caesar Augustus. A bridge of stone, some of which weigh up to 6 tons, were cut perfectly together without mortar.

Wedge-shaped stones, known as wedges, were organized into three levels, the top is a water pipe. So precise was the design of the whole system falls only 56 feet (17 m) vertically - over 30 miles! - To provide 5 million liters (20.00 m3) of water to the city.

Khaju Bridge

Khaju Bridge (Pol-e-Khajoo) in Isfahan, Iran, built in 17 century, Shah Abbas II. The bridge also acts as a dam, a lock-doors under the portico. When the doors are closed, the water level behind the bridge is raised to irrigate gardens along the river Zayandeh.

The bridge Khoju two stories of arcades, marked by the characteristic cross vaults decorated with colored tiles. In the middle of the bridge, there are two large pavilions, called Prince parlors, which were originally reserved for the Shah.