The 25 de Abril Bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril "25th of April Bridge" is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tejo river. It was inaugurated on August 6, 1966 and a train platform was added in 1999. Because of its similar coloring, it is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA. In fact, it was built by the same company (American Bridge Company) that constructed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and not the Golden Gate, also explaining its similarity in design. With a total length of 2,277 m, it is the 20th largest suspension bridge in the world. The upper platform carries six car lanes, the lower platform two train tracks. Until 1974, the bridge was named Salazar Bridge (Ponte Salazar).
From the late 19th century there had been proposals to build a bridge for Lisbon. In 1929 the idea advanced as a Portuguese engineer and entrepreneur, António Bello requested a Government concession for a railway crossing between Lisbon and Montijo (where the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the second bridge serving Lisbon, was later built in 1998). As a result, the Minister of Public Works, Duarte Pacheco, created a commission in 1933 to analyse the request. The commission reported in 1934, and proposed building a road and rail bridge. Bids were obtained. However, this proposal was subsequently put aside in favour of a bridge crossing the river at Vila Franca de Xira, 35 km north of Lisbon.
In 1953 a new Government commission started working and recommended building the bridge in 1958, choosing the southern anchor point adjacent to the recently built monument to Christ the King (Cristo-Rei). In 1959 the international invitation to tender for the project received four bids. In 1960 the winner was announced as a consortium headed by the United States Steel Export Company, which had submitted a bid in 1935.
Construction began on November 5, 1962. Forty-five months later (six months ahead of schedule) the bridge was inaugurated on August 6, 1966. Presiding at the ceremony was the President of Portugal, Admiral Américo Thomaz. Also present were the Prime-Minister, António de Oliveira Salazar, and the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira. The bridge was named Salazar Bridge (Ponte Salazar), in honour of the Prime Minister.]
The bridge was built by the American Bridge Company, part of the winning consortium and aided by eleven local companies. The steel was imported from the USA. Four workers lost their lives, out of a total of 3,000 who worked on the site. Construction took a total of 2,185,000 man-hours of work. The total cost of the bridge came to 2,200,000,000 Portuguese escudos, or US $ 32 million (US $201 million in 2006 adjusted for inflation).
Soon after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the bridge was renamed the 25 de Abril Bridge, the day the revolution had occurred. A symbol of those times was captured on film, with citizens removing the big "Salazar" brass sign from one of the main pillars of the bridge and painting a provisional "25 de Abril" in its place.
view my black & white collection
Critiques | Translate
LeeLoo (0) 2010-07-29 2:46
Dear Daniel Draghici!
Amazing cityscape of Lisboa. Wonderful view, spectacular view. Fine BW. Good frame. Very good note.
vasilpro (40933) 2010-07-29 3:22
Beautiful panoramic view, excellent light management and tones, very nice B&W presentation.
Have a nice day, Vasilis.
jafadabret (56501) 2010-07-29 5:02
Ce panorama semble une photo d'autrefois avec son traitement en noir et blanc. Beau graphisme des toits et des façades qui souligne les lignes très élégantes du pont.
delpeoples (53009) 2010-07-29 5:31
Hi Daniel, this photo could have been taken 40 years ago, it is timeless. I like the Black & White treatment and the tight framing emphasises the grandness of this huge city. The slightly shallower depth of field in the background emphasises this aspect even better. Nice job, TFS and I wish you a beautiful day, Lisa
Sergiom (60180) 2010-07-29 5:39
Beau cadrage. Je ne comprends pas l'utilisation du noir et blanc quand cette partie de Lisbonne est si colorée et lumineuse.
SWEETFREEDOM (22730) 2010-07-29 5:59
b/w and panoramic format are two of ma favorites, i like this cityscape and the very big bridge in the background.
Nicou (122146) 2010-07-29 6:38
superbe pano et iamge NB, ce pont en fond qui ressort de l'esnembel, j'aime beaucoup ce format d'image allongée, très belle vue et compo douce.
Bravo et amitié
ciakgiak (30411) 2010-07-29 7:45
my best congratulations for this very sophisticated image. I like a lot the horizontal format and the view of the bridge in BG. Excellent quality and frame too.
emka (79016) 2010-07-29 22:07
Hi Daniel, I jusr saw the Paulo's photo of the Ponte 25 de Abril, but quite different from this one. Interesting POV and choice of POV makes it looks like an old postcard. The bridge is very similar to Golden Gate bridge, I noticed it earlier but I did not know it was an American construction.
Regards from your second home, Cluj-Napoca.
macjake (56656) 2010-07-31 14:05
it must have been hard to choose a composition, as the options are endless.
i like that you cut off some of the buildings, and the rectangular view of the enitre frame seems to fit with the shapes of the buildings too.
love the bridge in the BG.
xavshot (69835) 2010-08-06 2:59
un bon choix du format panoramique et une belle conversion n&b.
jmdias (55497) 2010-08-09 8:01
when my parents moved to brazil the bridge wasn't build, its works begun when I was born and I saw it first time when I was 6 Y.Old.
nice this view mixing the traditional architecture of the town and the lines of the bridge. nice option for B&W
Didi (56915) 2010-08-22 3:41
Interesting difference between B&W and colour picture
But you should post a bigger large post.
The limits are 800 x 4000 pixels at 400 Kb.