Vizcaya Bridge
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.