Every bridge expresses elements linked to the transition between two spiritual states; and it is known that objects either support or extend a body’s physical powers. Homo faber, the one who achieves things, has constructed a physical world, which helps him to multiply his abilities and support his actions. And one of the most useful fruits of man’s inventiveness is without doubt the
bridge, which joins cultures, cities and thoughts.

By the eighth century BC, Herodotus described a bridge that crossed the River Euphrates in Babylonia. During the Persian invasions in 512, King Darius built a bridge out of more than 600 ships to cross the Bosphorous, allowing him to invade South Western Europe. But it was the Romans who refined the technique of bridge building. By way of example, in the year 50, Caesar
ordered a 420m long bridge to be built over the River Rhine and it was completed in just ten days. In fact they were so skilled in this respect that a number of centuries passed before bridge building resumed in Europe.

So since time immemorial the brilliant idea of building bridges to overcome geographical obstacles has enabled battles to be won and lost. Starting with the basic principle of a log falling across a riverbed, a fallen rock or rubble simply tossed into a ravine, building bridges has been a challenge for engineers throughout the ages.

Whether of wood, rock, bamboo, steel or concrete the range of different materials used to build robust bridges has changed throughout history; and although their basic function has not changed – to allow the movement of people, animals and goods— the bridge has indeed undergone a lot of development. If in the past bridges were used to cross rivers, now they are used to join cities, countries (as with the bridge linking Denmark and Sweden) and even continents, with the project to join Siberia with Alaska and Europe with Africa by means of a global highway; so traveling by car from Cape Horn to Tierra del Fuego may not be such an
impossible dream.

A bridge can link two towns, two shores or two spiritual states, as with the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, which was the last journey for prisoners and their final chance to see the sky and the sea. With the passage of time, bridges have become cultural icons that we associate with cities, movies, songs and books.