Vizcaya Bridge World Heritage Site

Official name

Vizcaya Bridge | UNESCO

Country

Spain | Map

Continent

Europe

Location

Basque Country, Province of Bizjaia,
43.3231° Lat, -3.1680° Lon | Map

Code

1217

Time Zone

Europe/Madrid (CEST, +0200)

Current Time

Category

Cultural

Description

Inscribed 2006. 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.