In this episode, we’ll describe some more amazing bridges of the world. These bridges are so fabulous and astonishing in their designs that apart from providing the passage over the water, they have become the remarkable symbols of their particular areas. Such bridges are truly the masterpieces and the state of the art constructions designed and built by the engineers. The planning and the constructions of such bridges would have gone through many complications and hard work. Not only the scientific technology and resources are required to build such amazing brides, but they require the ultimate aesthetic approach and the precision.

These are the images of some more amazing bridges of the world for your interest.

6- The Historic Golden Gate Bridge

The historic Golden Gate Bridge in California - Stefan Bock's Image

This amazing and historic suspension bridge connects the San Francisco city to the Marin County in California, USA. The construction of this amazing bridge was completed in 1937 and this is a fascinating fabrication of the steel work.

7- The Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia

The Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia - Image: Yury Prokopenko

Because of the fantastic arch-based design, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is also known as “The Cothanger”. It is also the fifth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world, and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 metres (440 ft) from top to water level.

8- The Nanpu Bridge in Shanghai, China

The Nanpu Bridge of China - Allister Chiong's Image

The Nanpu bridge is one of the most renowned cable-stayed brdges in China having seven lanes for the trafic and croses over the Huangpu river. The bridge has a main span of 428 meters (1,388 ft), shorter than its sister bridge, Yangpu.

9- The Historic Ponte Vecchio of Italy

The historic Ponte Vecchio of Florence, italy - Valeriano Della Longa's Photo

Ponte Vecchio is a hstoric and Medieval stone arched bridge in Florence, Italy over the Arno river which is beleived to be firstly construted in the Roman era. The bridge consists of three segmental arches: the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 ft) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 ft).

10- The Tsing Ma Bridge of Hong Kong

The Tsing Ma Bridge of Hing Kong - Gp Teo's Image

This amazing bridge in Hong Kong is named after two islands; Tsing Yi and Ma Wan. The bridge has a main span of 1,377 metres (4,518 ft) and a height of 206 metres (676 ft). The span is the largest of all bridges in the world carrying rail traffic.

This was the second episode of the most amazing bridges of the world. In the next episode we’ll present before you some other fantastic bridges of the world. Click the following to visit the first part of this series ;

Amazing Bridges Of The World -1

This is really hard to understand the philosophy of nature. We are sometimes the beneficiaries of Nature and sometimes the victims of its aggression. The history of the human development is filled with the catastrophic acts of Nature. Nature becomes furious sometimes in shape of the harassing oceans, sometimes with the calamitous tsunamis and sometimes by the disastrous earthquakes.

By : Trey Ratcliff ( A fantastic image of the ruins of Pompeii with the Mount Vesuvius)

In Europe, Italy is well known for its marvelous archaeological heritage. Pompeii is one of it’s the most renowned historic ruins. This famous site is actually a sepulcher town which was a center of the Roman civilization, culture, art and customs. This ancient city was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption almost 1700 years ago. It was an unlucky day of 79 A.D when the Mount Vesuvius exploded ash and lava that destroyed the prosperity of the people of Pompeii and their amazing cultivation forever.

The Historic Pompeii Ruins ( Image: JAMES MARSHALL D )

It was not possible for the people of Pompeii to get any idea about the eruption of Vesuvius at the time of the disaster. People were busy in their day to day affairs and they were damn sure that the volcano is inactive for more than centuries so it would never explode again. They were totally unaware of the fact that a longer inactivity of a volcano coupled with mounting seismic activity is a pure sign of forthcoming fiasco. Although they had firm belief in the might of their gods and their ability to predict about the future, but they remained blind about the happenings of 24^th August of 79 A.D. On this day Mount Vesuvius detonated its massive lava and within no time the whole city was buried under a 20 feet layer of ash and pumice. The whole population and the architecture of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers of tephra, in total 25 meters deep, which rained down for about 6 hours. Rest of the world was totally oblivious about this tragedy until the rediscovery of Pompeii in 1738 by some laborers, who were working in the construction a summer palace for the then King of Naples. However, Pompeii was properly found again as the result of intentional excavations in 1748 by a Spanish team.

A dead body of Pompeii inhabitant ( Image: CameliaTWU )

However, after this many excavation activities were executed in order to bring out the appropriate facts about Pompeii. The different theories of the historians suggest that Pompeii was inhabited with more than 20,000 people at that time and it was an ideal town where the Romans spent their holidays. Pompeii was located near the modern day Naples in Campania region. The construction style adopted by the people of Pompeii was luxuriant and they possessed a very opulent way of life. The walls, pavements and floors of their villas were embellished with magnificent mosaics.

POMPEII - ITALY ( Pavement ) Image Courtesy : Ggarner

Pompeii is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the archaeologists from all over the world have made tremendous research on the remains of Pompeii including the Greek-inspired buildings, cobble-stoned streets, brothels, frescoes and numerous artifacts. These all remained under ideal conditions of preservation when they were out of sight. The lack of air and moisture were the main contribution factors that safeguarded these objects from deterioration. However after their rediscovery they are on the verge of rapid decay due to the both natural and man-made forces. Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor methods of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the site in some way. For the last 250 years, Pompeii, the historic ruins of Italy are attracting millions of visitors annually to visit this phenomenal site and it is one of the most popular tourist sites of Italy.

The construction of the Raudonė Castle of Lithuania was started in the sixteenth century. This fabulous historic castle is located in Jurbarkas district of Lithuania. The name of the castle is also associated with the city Raudonė and the Raudonė castle is one of the most famous architectural structures in Lithuania.

Raudonė Castle of Lithuania

The present formation of the castle is actually the developed construction done by Jeronimas, who was a governor and the secretary of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy Treasury in the middle of 17^th century and he made the Raudonė castle his main residence. Actually, this was the time, when the Raudone Castle was looked after and maintained properly. During the 18^th century, it was occupied by Olendskiai family who rebuilt the Raudonė castle several times according to classicism style. Later, Raudone castle was sold by Olendskiai to Zubovai family due to a fire broke up. Zubovai family entirely remodeled and completed the reconstruction in 1877.

During the First World War and the Second World War, the German armed forces destroyed the castle a lot. The Great Tower of the Raudone castle was also damaged and much of the construction was badly affected. After the Second World War, the Raudonė caslte was rebuilt and a primary school was here established which works till nowadays and is the only one school located in the castle in Lithuania. Today, the building of Raudone castle of Lithuania is considered as an example of 19th century neo-Gothic architecture.