Ponte de Dona Maria Pia Bridge
Description:
The Ponte de Dona Maria Pia railway bridge, named after Queen Maria Pia of Savoy, wife of Louis I, crosses the Douro River in Portugal and connects two cities, Porto and Vila Nova di Gaia. The bridge was built in 1877 by the famous architect Gustav Eiffel, who later designed the famous Eiffel Tower.
The elegant openwork bridge is an elegant interweaving of steel lace. The peculiarity of the bridge is that it is thrown to the other side without driving piles, which was an unusual decision for that time. The bridge is fixed on steel pylons, its arch is held on a steel cable. At that time, the span of the Ponte de Dona Maria Pia Bridge was considered the largest in the world.
The construction of a bridge in one span, about one hundred and sixty meters long, 60 meters above the river, lasted about two years. It was used for its intended purpose for 120 years, before the advent of more modern and convenient bridges. The bridge is now a national monument of Portugal.