Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bridge by Leonardo da Vinci
Fun Fact
In Tuscany, Leonardo da Vinci drew the plans for a bridge in 1502. It
was never built in his day. However, in 2001 da Vinci's stunningly mod-
ern pedestrian bridge has opened in Norway, of all places.
The 99m (330-ft.) laminated timber bridge links Norway with its
eastern neighbor, Sweden, at the town of Aas, a 26km (16-mile) drive
south of Oslo. Many Oslovians, who have no real intention of going to
Sweden, drive down to walk across this remarkable piece of Renais-
sance engineering.
Of course, da Vinci didn't envision a laminated bridge. He had a
216m (720-ft.) stone span in mind to cross the Golden Horn inlet at the
mouth of the Bosporus between Peta and Istanbul. Sultan Bejazet II, at
that time a patron of da Vinci, feared that it was impractical to build
such a bridge. The plan died until the original da Vinci drawings were
uncovered among some documents in the late 1950s.
Although the new bridge is only a scaled-down version of what da
Vinci originally designed, it's nonetheless a stunning bit of engineer-
ing, standing 8m (27 ft.) high at its pinnacle.
The weight of the relatively light bridge is supported on a trio of
arches that join the pathway in the center. They fan out to footholds
supporting a base 41m (135 ft.) apart. The bridge is only 23 inches thick
in the middle, although the arches curve out to 1.5m (5
1
⁄
2
ft.) at their
base. Modern engineers claim that da Vinci understood the principle
of distributing the force of the arch by making wide footholds long
before bridge makers learned this technique.
Sunday noon to 4pm. This county museum of the province of Østfold is an
open-air museum filled with some 30 period structures moved here from vari-
ous parts of southern Norway. Many cultural artifacts are exhibited, and you can
also walk through an herbal garden. Kids should enjoy the petting zoo. On-site
are the ruins of King Øystein's St. Nikolaus Church, built in 1115 but torched
by the advancing Swedish army in 1567. There is no admission charge, however,
you must call ahead if you want a guided tour, which costs 14NOK ($2).
En route back to Fredrikstad, you can stop off at the
Storedal Cultural Cen-
tre,
at Storedal (
&
69-16-92-67
), 8km (5 miles) east of Fredrikstad. This was
the birthplace of King Magnus in 1117. He became king of Norway at the age
of 13. But 5 years later he was blinded and since then called King Magnus the
Blind. Centuries later the owner of a farm on this site, Erlking Stordahl, was also
blind, and decided to erect a center honoring the medieval teenage king. The
center is dedicated not only to blind people but also to those suffering from dis-
abilities. On-site is a beautiful botanical garden that you can visit; it costs
20NOK ($2.85) to enter. Two artists, Arne Nordheim and Arnold Haukeland,
designed an Ode to the Light “sound sculpture,” which translates the fluctua-
tions of natural light into music. The center is signposted from Route 110. It's
open from June to August daily 10am to 5pm, charging no admission.
