Building Bridges... or at least one!

Bridges are a wonderful piece of architecture. They connect two shores, they make crossing a river so much easier than having to ford the river, or to ferry across. (They also make paddling more interesting, but that is, of course, not their main use.)

They are, however, rather complicated to make - at least if the water that is to be crossed isn't just a slim bit, but has some substantial width. That means they have to have support pillars in the riverbed, and that, in turn, means... some ingenuity, and good technique, is needed for building them.

If you've ever wondered how such a bridge was made in the Middle Ages, here's a little animation video that shows the reconstructed process for building the bridge now called Charles Bridge in Prague:


Isn't that amazing?

And that bridge is huge. HUGE. I've been to Prague a few times (though by far not often enough, it's an utterly beautiful city, and I'm utterly fond of the old and very old buildings there, the amazing textiles in the castle collections, the lovely textile colleagues working there, and of course the Czech food, which brings back memories from my childhood in parts, and is just utterly delightful in the other parts.
Erm. I digress. The bridge is huge. If you have the chance to visit Prague, go see this monster of about 10 m in width and more than 500 metres in length. And maybe buy a trinket from one of the stalls set up on the bridge, like on so many bridges in medieval times, as a souvenir. (I might have done that. Who knows?)