The Blauwbrug (English: Blue bridge) is a historic
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
over the river
Amstel. It connects the
Rembrandtplein area with the
Waterlooplein area, and lies south to the
Stopera.
The bridge owes its name to a wooden "blue bridge" that was there from around 1600 but no longer exists and which was painted the characteristic blue of the
Dutch flag. It kept the name after 1883 when it was replaced by the spans of a new bridge which is inspired by the architecture of several of the bridges over the
Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
such as
Pont Alexandre III.
The stone bridge has three openings for ships and is richly decorated. The bases are formed like ships' bows and on top columns with leaf-motifs, masks and finally the
Imperial Crown of Austria, as also present in the city's coat of arms. Also the lantern poles have shipping decorations and the lanterns themselves are again in the shape of crowns.
The bridge carries a road which is also used by the
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
way.
In culture
The title of
A. F. Th. van der Heijden's controversial 1983 novel ''De Slag om de Blauwbrug'' refers to this bridge.
Gallery
File:De Blauwbrug over de Binnen-Amstel, verbouwd in 1883.jpg, The Blauwbrug before 1883
File:Blauwbrug lithograph.png, The Blauwbrug in circa 1905
File:Brug236c.jpg, Monumental lantern with Imperial crown on the Blauwbrug
File:Blauwbrug amsterdam.jpg, South side of the Blauwbrug seen from the Amstel
File:RiotsInaugurationBeatrix1980NL.jpg, Riot on the Blauwbrug in 1980
File:Lantern,_Blauwbrug,_Amsterdam.jpg, Close-up of Imperial crown lanterns on the Blauwbrug in 2014
File:Amstel vanaf Blauwbrug 2017.jpg, View of the Amstel from the Blauwbrug in 2017
External links
*
References
Bridges completed in 1883
Bridges in Amsterdam
Road bridges in the Netherlands
Road-rail bridges
Stone bridges in the Netherlands
Tourist attractions in Amsterdam
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