19 of the world’s most iconic bridges
Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur, USA
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Bridges have come a long way since our cavemen ancestors placed logs over streams. More than simply ways to traverse passages of water or rough terrain, modern-day bridges are astonishing feats of engineering. The Akashi Kaikyo in Japan (pictured below) is not only the world’s longest and tallest suspension bridge, it is also able to withstand earthquakes of up to 8.5 on the Richter Scale and winds of nearly 300 kilometres per hour. The futuristic Gateshead Millennium in the UK is the first and only bridge that tilts as a single, rigid structure to let boats pass beneath it.
But it’s not all Beautiful-Mind-level mathematics. Bridges also carry emotional weight, so much so that they’ve affected the way we use language. Build a bridge. Burn your bridges. Catholics call the Pope pontiff, the Latin word for bridge, to show how he connects man and God. So it would be remiss of us not to include historical treasures as well as modern marvels in this list. Like the Pont du Gard in southern France, an aqueduct built by the Romans in the first century AD, or the Ponte Vecchio in Florence which dates back to medieval times. The Bridge of Sighs in Venice once connected interrogation rooms to the prison – the view from its windows was the last glimpse of freedom people had en route to their incarceration.
Scroll down to see more of the world’s most iconic bridges, both old and new.
Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Kobe, Japan
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Helix Bridge, Marina Bay, Singapore
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Pont du Gard, Gard, France
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Bridge Of Sighs, Venice, Italy
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Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Gateshead, UK
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Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy
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Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, USA
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Stari Most, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Brooklyn Bridge, New York, USA
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Zibzuri Bridge, Bilbao, Spain
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Viaduc de Millau, Millau, France
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Forth Bridge, Scotland, UK
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Magere Brug, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy
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Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia
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Tower Bridge, London, UK
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Vasco da Gama Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal
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Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic
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