Viaduct over the Ruhr River between Herdecke and Hagen Vorhalle, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

"The Ruhr region. Anyone who wants to get to know a magnificent region will find rich satisfaction here; for everything that can adorn a serene landscape can be found here, all within a few hours' drive: a lovely valley crowned by serene mountains, knights' castles and ruins, fertile fields and fragrant meadows, and, at the same time, flourishing industry and trade."

J.F. Wilhelmi, 1828

Kreisviadukt near Brusio, Graubunden (Switzerland)

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.

        She wanders lowing here and there,

        And yet she cannot stray,

        All in the pleasant open air,

        The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Viaduct over the Ruhr River in Witten, North Rhine - Westphalia (Germany)

Nothing but walls. Without grass and glass
the street pulls the pied belt
the facades. No track hums.
The pavement always shines water-wet.

If a man strikes you, his gaze hits you cold
to the marrow; the hard steps haunt
Fire from the towering steep fence,
his short breath still clenched

Poem of Paul Zech about the Ruhr valley

Viaduct over the Elster River Valley in the Vogtland district, Saxony (Germany)

"The impression and the captivating nature of it lies not in its mass, but in the slenderness and pleasing lightness with which the bridge leaps over the gap in a few tremendous leaps."

Neues Wiener Journal, 

10th August,1905, about this bridge

Corbiére Viaduct over L'Estaque village in Marseille (France)

"Marseille isn't a city for tourists. There's nothing to see. Its beauty can't be photographed. It can only be shared. It's a place where you have to take sides, be passionately for or against."

Jean Claude Izzo

Plebanivka Viaduct in Ternopil (Ukraine)

Somewhere upon graves a Kalyna blossomed,
With red flowers it had blossomed
Beyond the seas there is my Ukraine
Native, blooming, beloved land!

Why are our graves forgotten?
Why does no one bring flowers?
And a maiden does not cry in grief,
And a priest does not remember us?

Lyrics from Abkhazian Waltz,

ucranian folk song

Viaduct over the Ruhr River in Hardecke, North Rhine - Westphalia (Germany)

Wohl fand ich der Reize mehr nirgend schier

Und Becher- und Sangesgetöne,

Doch immer zog es zurück mich nach dir,

Mein Ruhrtal, mein einziges schöne.

Nowhere else did I find the charms
and sounds of cups and songs,
but I was always drawn back to you,
My Ruhr valley, my only beautiful one.

Extracted from Pfingsten im Ruhrtal

by Heinrich Kampchen

Millau Viaduct over the Tarn Valley, near Millau, Aveyron (France)

"A good example of an iconic structure that features sound engineering principles and was not extremely costly to build"

Michel Virlogeux

designer of the bridge, about it.

Schnecktal Viaduct near Bad Bibra and other bridges in the Finnebahn railway line, Saxony-Anhalt (Germany)

"There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Sonneberg-West Viaduct near Sonneberg, Thuringia (Germany)

Ich wand're ja so gerne

Den Rennsteig durch das Land

Den Beutel auf dem Rücken

Die Klampfe in der Hand

Ich bin ein lust'ger Wandersmann

So völlig unbeschwert

Mein Lied ertönt durch Busch und Tann

Das jeder gerne hört.

Lyrics from Thuringen

Trabireiter

Eberswalder Strasse Bridge in Pankow, Berlin (Germany)

Entschuldigen Sie ist das der Sonderzug nach Pankow-
Ich muss mal eben dahin
Mal eben nach Ost-Berlin
Ich muss da was klärn mit eurem Oberindianer
Ich bin ein Jodeltalent und will da spieln mit 'ner Band
Ich hab 'n Fläschen Cognac mit und das schmeckt sehr lecker
Das schlürf ich dann ganz locker mit dem Erich Honecker
Und ich sag: Ey Honey ich sing für wenig Money
Im Republik-Palast wenn ihr mich lasst
All die ganzen Schlageraffen dürfen da singen
Dürfen ihren ganzen Schrott zum Vortrage bringen
Nur der kleine Udo nur der kleine Udo
...

Lyrics of Sonderzug nach Pankow
from Udo Lindenberg

Railway Bridge over the river Boruja in Bytow, Pomerania (Poland) painted by Agnieszka Lisewka-Hasulak

Over a delicate arch—
an eyebrow of stone—
on the unruffled forehead
of a wall
in joyful and open windows
where there are faces instead of geraniums
where rigorous rectangles
border a dreaming perspective
where a stream awakened by an ornament
flows on a quiet field of surfaces
movement meets stillness a line meets a shout
trembling uncertainty simple clarity
you are there... architecture

Poem by Zbigniew Herbert

Railway Viaduct over the river Bobr in Boleslawiec, Lower Silesia (Poland)

In dém die Sónne sích hat ín das Méer begében

nd dás gestírnte Háupt der Nácht heráus erbrícht

Sind Ménschen

Víeh und Wíld wie gléischsam óhne Lében

Der Mónde beschéinet áuch gar káum mit hálbe Líecht.

The sun has already sunk into the ocean

and the starry face of the night rises

People and cattle seem lifeless

in half light the Moon barely shines

Poem from Martin Opitz

poet from Boleselawiec

Mescladou Viaduct over the river Gardon de Mialet near Anduze, Gard (France)

J’ai trouvé une terre, terre de châtaigniers
Un chemin de traverse, un causse bien isolé
J’ai trouvé une place, une place en fleur
Un doux champ de terrasse où passer les heures

J’ai trouvé une pluie, une pluie d’acacia
Que percent les brebis transhument pas à pas
J’ai trouvé une chanson où le vent s’amuse
A me filer l’frisson à y être sa muse
Mais parfois je m’ennuie face à la rivière
Et j’avoue que j’envie les vies boulevardières

Lyrics from Des Cévennes à Vincennes

Murielle Holtz

Wellington Viaduct in the Nilgiri Mountain Railway Lane near Ooty, Tamil Nadu (India)

The Mountain Railways of India are outstanding examples of hill railways. Opened between 1881 and 1908 they applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty. They are still fully operational as living examples of the engineering enterprise of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mountain Railways of India as UNESCO World Heritage Site

Stanczyki Viaducts over the Biedzianka River near Goldap, Masuria (Poland)

That, which I hear

which I see,

perhaps you are embarrassed at that,

I am not embarrassed.

Perhaps I would be embarrassed

if there were no water in teh rivers,

but they dripped with coffee,

if people instead of the trees

sighed and rustled with the wind,

or if you didn't know what you know,

if my fatherland

Poland, never existed

then I would be embarrassed.

poem by Janina Jaworska-Demczakowa

Railway bridge crossing the river Paraibuna near Alfonso Arinos, Rio de Janeiro state (Brazil)

Na Mantiqueira nasci

Em grande altitude.

É do alto que eu grito

Pra que você me ajude,

Pra que sacie sua sede,

Eu preciso de saúde.

Perto de Santos Dumont

Vou cumprindo a missão.

Lembro-me do meu passado

Brasil sem poluição.

Até já matei a sede

Do pai da aviação.

Sou o rio Paraibuna pedindo socorro

Norberto José de Freitas

Railway Bridge over the Prut River in Vorokhta (Ukraine)

“The nicest in the areas of Vorokhta the valley of the river Prut near Forentschanka, to which leads the narrow rail track. Passengers sit in open wagons, which are used for the transportation of trees. They receive sunshine, the full aroma, and a noise of this forested valley"

Hugo Steinhaus, 1926

Glenfinnan Viaduct on the West Highland Line, Scotland (United Kingdom)

Was it something I said that made you angry with me,
Made you dig a deep river to keep you from me?
Oh, the water is rushing, come to sweep me away
'Less I die of sorrow, I will cross it today.

I would build me a bridge a hundred meters long
To see the other side of what I did wrong
Well you say you don't hate me, but I guess that I'm scared
That with a river between us, you'll no longer care.

Lyrics from The Bridge,

Marc Gunn

Stanczyk Viaduct on the Biedzianka River near Goldap, Masuria (Poland)

"I'm lazy. But it's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things."

Lech Walesa,
Poland former president