Case Study Leonardo Bridge Project
When Leonardo da Vinci designed a 240 meters bridge it would have been the longest bridge in
the world. His plan was ambitious. In 1502, a skeptical sultan rejected Leonardo's design as
impossible, but 300 years civilization finally embraced the engineering principle - arches as
supports - underlying the construction. The bridge has been constructed, in Norway.
Now instead of spanning the Bosporus , his visionary creation was destined to span 500 years as
a bridge to another millennium. Vebjorn Sand, the man behind the modern project, has a site
with images and details. http://www.vebjorn-sand.com/thebridge.htm Leonardo Bridge Project
In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci did a simple drawing of a graceful bridge with a single span of 720-foot
span (approximately 240-meters.) Da Vinci designed the bridge as part of a civil engineering
project for Sultan Bajazet II of Constantinople (Istanbul.) The bridge was to span the Golden
Horn, an inlet at the mouth of the Bosphorus River in what is now Turkey.
The Bridge was never built.
Leonardo's "Golden Horn" Bridge is a perfect "pressed-bow." Leonardo surmised correctly that
the classic keystone arch could be stretched narrow and substantially widened without losing
integrity by using a flared foothold, or pier, and the terrain to anchor each end of the span. It was
conceived 300 years prior to its engineering principals being generally accepted. It was to be 72
feet-wide (24 meters), 1080-foot total length (360 meters) and 120 feet (40 meters) above the
sea level at the highest point of the span.
Norwegian painter and public art creator, Vebjørn Sand, saw the drawing and a model of the
bridge in an exhibition on da Vinci's architectural & engineering designs in 1996. The power of the
simple design overwhelmed him. He conceived of a project to bring its eternal beauty to life. The
Norwegian Leonardo Bridge Project makes history as the first of Leonardo's
the world. His plan was ambitious. In 1502, a skeptical sultan rejected Leonardo's design as
impossible, but 300 years civilization finally embraced the engineering principle - arches as
supports - underlying the construction. The bridge has been constructed, in Norway.
Now instead of spanning the Bosporus , his visionary creation was destined to span 500 years as
a bridge to another millennium. Vebjorn Sand, the man behind the modern project, has a site
with images and details. http://www.vebjorn-sand.com/thebridge.htm Leonardo Bridge Project
In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci did a simple drawing of a graceful bridge with a single span of 720-foot
span (approximately 240-meters.) Da Vinci designed the bridge as part of a civil engineering
project for Sultan Bajazet II of Constantinople (Istanbul.) The bridge was to span the Golden
Horn, an inlet at the mouth of the Bosphorus River in what is now Turkey.
The Bridge was never built.
Leonardo's "Golden Horn" Bridge is a perfect "pressed-bow." Leonardo surmised correctly that
the classic keystone arch could be stretched narrow and substantially widened without losing
integrity by using a flared foothold, or pier, and the terrain to anchor each end of the span. It was
conceived 300 years prior to its engineering principals being generally accepted. It was to be 72
feet-wide (24 meters), 1080-foot total length (360 meters) and 120 feet (40 meters) above the
sea level at the highest point of the span.
Norwegian painter and public art creator, Vebjørn Sand, saw the drawing and a model of the
bridge in an exhibition on da Vinci's architectural & engineering designs in 1996. The power of the
simple design overwhelmed him. He conceived of a project to bring its eternal beauty to life. The
Norwegian Leonardo Bridge Project makes history as the first of Leonardo's