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Vizcaya Bridge
CC BY-SA 2.0 | Author: Javier Mediavilla Ezquibela | Full Size | More Pics >

Vizcaya Bridge

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Rank: 1001 UNESCO
Wonder Type: Cultural
Country: Spain
Best of: Architecture, Bridge
Description:
Vizcaya Bridge straddles the mouth of the Ibaizabal estuary, west of Bilbao. It was designed by the Basque architect Alberto de Palacio and completed in 1893. The 45-m-high bridge with its span of 160 m, merges 19th-century ironworking traditions with the then new lightweight technology of twisted steel ropes. It was the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola and was used as a model for many similar bridges in Europe, Africa and the America only a few of which survive. With its innovative use of lightweight twisted steel cables, it is regarded as one of the outstanding architectural iron constructions of the Industrial Revolution. [More Details]
This article uses material from UNESCO World Heritage List article "Vizcaya Bridge", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 3.0 IGO License.