zondag 12 augustus 2012

A bridge in Java

I found the photo of this bridge over the river Serayu near Wonosobo at central Java in the Royal Institute for the Tropics in Amsterdam. The photo saved from the archives as glasplate negative dates from 1925. To give us an idea of the proportions of this bamboo bridge the photographer asked somebody to stand in the middle . The Serayu is a powerful river. Now it looks peaceful but in the monsoon season the water washes up to the top of the stones that reinforce the bank on the other side. Once in the 5 years it rise even higher and take the whole bridge with it. I was just struck by the construction which look like a modern cable bridge.
One for sunday bridges.

7 opmerkingen:

  1. It has to give a bit of vertigo to cross that bridge in monsoon season.

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  2. When they crossed the bamboo bridge, it made some sound, I imagine.

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  3. This looks like an incredible architectural feat. And made with local, organic materials too. Amazing. Do you think the bridge is still of bamboo, or have they replaced it now with steel. This vintage photo is a gem.

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  4. Pretty nifty, at first I thought the bridge had been destroyed/damaged.

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  5. Very interesting engineering, making use of natural materials. It does have that 'broken' look about it; but I guess it is two almost separate suspended walkways, which just meet in the middle. Looks quite unique.

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