Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge was completed in 1996 and connects the northern and southern parts of the port city across the Maas river. For more in-depth coverage of Erasmus Bridge, read our Place section in Issue 29 of Dutch the magazine…
Some interesting facts:
- Erasmus Bridge is a symbol of the unity and the modernity of Rotterdam, built to realize the city administration’s desire to permanently connect the northern and southern parts of Rotterdam across the Maas river.
- The half mile long Erasmus Bridge is named for Desiderius Erasmus, the Renaissance humanist philosopher and theologian and Rotterdam’s most famous son.
- Erasmus bridge is nicknamed ‘The Swan’.
- A 292 foot section of Erasmus Bridge opens to let through ships that cannot pass underneath the span, it is the largest and heaviest of its kind in Europe.
- Erasmus Bridge was built in a once derelict docklands area, called the ‘Kop van Zuid’, which was transformed into a marvel of modern urban planning and daring architecture and design.
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