© UNESCO/Niamh Burke
A gondola is suspended high above passing ships.

At the end of the 19th century, Martín Alberto de Palacio y Elissague was given the task of building a bridge over the Nervión, in the Basque country (Spain), with one prerequisite: uninterrupted river traffic. To meet the challenge, the engineer dreamed up the first metallic bridge with a gondola.

"On Bilbao’s ria is the first transporter bridge ever built in the world. It is gigantic, splendid and made of metal beams like the Eiffel tower.”

“On Bilbao’s ria is the first transporter bridge ever built in the world. It is gigantic, splendid and made of metal beams like the Eiffel tower.” These were the inducements for taking us to Las Arenas when we were children, to see the Biscay Transporter Bridge, an architectural masterpiece combining functionality and esthetics.

As for my grandfather, he would explain that when he was a child, the place looked like a rubbish dump, and the only attraction was the bridge. He would also say that the bridge united two worlds - the right bank, attractive and manicured, country retreat for rich people, and the left bank, ugly and ill-kempt, where the factory workers lived.

The transporter bridge joins the two banks of the Nervión at its mouth, it is made entirely of iron and it is 160 metres long. Resting on four towers 43 metres high, it boasts the singularity of incorporating a suspended “gondola” to transport passengers, vehicles and merchandise.

The bridge was thought up more than a century ago by the Biscayan engineer Martín Alberto de Palacio y Elissague. The local authorities had assigned him the project of inventing a bridge that would make it possible to transport people and goods while still allowing navigation on the Nervión, essential for the region’s steel industry.

Having studied the different options that existed at the time, both in transport mechanisms (rails, barges, platforms) and types of bridge (lifting, swinging, high-level, underground), the engineer came up with the design, which he himself named the “Palacio Transporter Bridge”. He thus succeeded in meeting the double challenge put to him.

The work began on 10 April 1890 and lasted just over two years. The main structure was built first, then the transport “gondola”, comprising a covered section for first-class passengers and an uncovered area for second-class travelers, merchandise and livestock.

Inaugurated in 1893, the bridge was the first in history with such characteristics. It gained international fame and was soon compared to other iron monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower. The engineer Gustave Eiffel was in fact a personal friend of Palacio.

When the Spanish civil war began in 1936, the Biscay bridge became a focal point for General Franco’s troops, intent on occupying the Basque country. On 26 April 1937, the Condor legion, a squadron of German planes Hitler had sent to Franco’s aid, bombed Guernica. Barely two months later, on 17 June 1937, the Northern Army Engineers, a Republican battalion defending Biscay, blew up the bridge to prevent Franco’s troops from crossing over.

"My grandfather would certainly have been touched to see this bridge inscribed on the World Heritage List."

Its reconstruction was completed two years later and featured some technical improvements, such as a suspension system and crossbars. The bridge was back in working order by 1941.

It now stands in the midst of a natural setting. The blue water, the slope of the western bank and the groves of trees along the shores seem protected by a benevolent colossus.

We have grown – the contrasts between the two banks and the decadent atmosphere described by my grandfather have gradually faded. The creation of the Guggenheim museum in 1997 modernized Bilbao, but the childish glee inspired by crossing from one side of the river to the other in this urban cable-car remains intact. My grandfather would certainly have been touched to see this bridge inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Laura Berdejo in Bilbao

Photo 2: © UNESCO/Niamh Burke
Photo 3: © UNESCO/Niamh Burke