Bridges of the World: From Antiquity through to Today's Superstructures

Bridges are so simple—they span rivers, channels, valleys, or roads—but it is in how they have been constructed over the centuries that makes them so remarkable. Should a bridge be made of wood, iron, or concrete? Or limestone, granite, or basalt? Should it be arched, cantilevered, or a suspension bridge? There is more to bridges than their engineering: they can be elegant works of art, too—showpieces for their patrons. In this way, they no longer simply link one place to another but, still standing centuries after they were first constructed, they now connect the present to the past. They are pieces of architectural history. Arranged in chronological order, Bridges of the World takes us on a journey from the oldest bridge in Rome, built in 62 BCE, right up to the latest suspension bridge completed in 2017. Along the way, the book features an immense range of structures, from wooden, stone, and iron bridges to modern steel and concrete feats of civil engineering, from tiny Medieval bridges to motorway-wide flyovers, from dams you can walk across and bridges that carry houses to viaducts and aqueducts, from famous structures to little-known gems. Ranging from the Rocky Mountains to the Yangtse River to Venice’s canals, from Amsterdam to Armenia, Ireland to Iran, Japan to Germany, Bridges of the World is a pictorial representation of 190 magnificent structures from all around the world.