Pedro e Inês bridge

{{Short description|Footbridge in Coimbra, Portugal}}

File:PontePedroInes.JPG

The Pedro e Inês bridge is a footbridge opened in 2007 in the town of Coimbra in Portugal. It was designed by Cecil Balmond, Arup Group, and Portuguese civil engineer António Adão da Fonseca.

Spanning the Rio Mondego, the {{convert|600|ft|m}} structure is the city's first footbridge and has become locally known as the "bridge that doesn't meet."

Partly inspired by skipping stones,{{cite web|website=Business Week|url=http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2007/id20070207_841153_page_5.htm|access-date=2010-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007133451/http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2007/id20070207_841153_page_5.htm|archive-date=2008-10-07|url-status=dead|title=Thinking Outside the Box }} the design is created from two cantilevered walkways joining in the middle.{{cite web|website=Wallpaper|url=http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/coimbra-bridge-cecil-balmond/1315|access-date=2010-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820195320/http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/coimbra-bridge-cecil-balmond/1315|archive-date=2010-08-20|url-status=dead|title=Coimbra bridge, Cecil Balmond | Architecture | Wallpaper* Magazine }} Each walkway is responsible for supporting the other - the two halves are displaced, giving the visual effect of a bridge that does not meet.{{cite news | title=An Engineering Magician, Then (Presto) He's an Architect | date= 26 November 2006 | author=Nicolai Ouroussoff | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/arts/design/26ouro.html | newspaper=The New York Times}} Wallpaper magazine said the bridge "appears at first glimpse to be impossible." The balustrade is made from a clear, fractal pattern crafted in coloured blue, pink, green and yellow glass.{{cite web|title=Cecil Balmond and the Bonfire of the Vanities|url=http://www.lynnbecker.com/repeat/balmonds/cecil_balmond_and_the_bonfire_of_the_vanities.htm|website=LynnBecker.com}}{{Unreliable source?|date=September 2018}}

The bridge is named for the ill-fated affair between Pedro, the Crown Prince of Portugal, and the Queen's lady-in-waiting, Inês de Castro.

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