Bridges, Bridges, Bridges! On Stamps

There is a small city on the banks of the Loire river that changed its name in 1971 from St. Hilaire to Illiers-Combray in honor of Marcel Proust's 100th birthday. The novelist had spent some of his young years there and parts of his 7-volume novel "In search of lost time" takes place in a town he called Combray. The old stone bridge dates back to the middle ages. The stamp is one of a set of 6 semipostals which were issued in 1966.





(Hi Alexey, You would love to visit the machine room at Strepy-Tieu! K.)

Another similar lift in Niederfinow, amazing construction of German hydraulic engineering!

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(Hi, Kris. I'm sure I would have laked it!)

Speaking of canals, the Mittellandkanal of Germany extends from the Rhine in the west all the way to the Elbe in the east; about 325 kilometers long. First plans were discussed in the mid 1800s but construction wasn't begun till 1905. The stamp (2005) commemorates 100 years and shows the final section with a long bridge over the Elbe river at Magdeburg. The old post card shows the first bridge at Minden and the areal view shows that this western part is a spaghetti junction of waterways. With a houseboat you can travel from one canal to the next, so after the Mittelland bridges you can take the lift at Niederfinow.

Kris Rascher
Many great posts. Very interesting. Daniel

Bridge Aldo Pereira de Andrade - Iron Bridge
Railroad Bridge that served as a crossing over the Itajaí-Açu River to the railroad that connected Blumenau to Itajaí, was built in 1929 with material imported from Germany and inaugurated in 1931. The bridge is 315 meters long. On March 13, 1971, by decision of the Federal Government, the Santa Catarina Railroad is used for the last time. In 1991 the bridge was completely restored and adapted to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
On the stamp, portrait of Hermann Blumenau, founder of the Brazilian city of Blumenau.

The Dalslandskanal connects several large lakes in the southwest of Sweden to make a waterway over 250 kilometers long. It's most spectacular intersection is at Haverud where it crosses the gorge between Lake Vänern and Lake Upperudshöljen. It passes under a rail draw-bridge and a higher road bridge. During the winter months the canal freezes over. The aqueduct for the canal and the 4 locks were completed in 1868 and are still fully functional.




(Hi, Timbres, Thanks for your appreciation! Jose, There are several Blumenaus in Germany but none as big and picturesque as yours! K.)

Pont#1089;ysyllte aqueduct in Britain was part of a system of channel more than 3,000 km long. It was the forerunner of the railways
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The great engineer James Brindley (1716-1772) planned and constructed many of the first man-made waterways of England at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The most famous is the Barton aqueduct of the Bridgewater canal, which was torn down in 1891. The watercolor by Yates (1793) was obviously motif for the stamp showing that barges were towed by horses. In the painting by Dunnington (1860-1941) barges could even have sails. Brindley also had tunnels dug for the canals, the most famous perhaps the Harecastle tunnel. Many of these waterways attract tourists nowadays. An absolutely unique aqueduct replaced one of Brindley's structures in the 1890s and that is a "swing" aqueduct over the Mersey river. It closes the water channel and turns with the water 90 degrees. That should be on a stamp! (Brindley is part of a beautifully designed set of 8 issued in 2009.)






(Hi Alexey, It was fun to see the Pontcysyllte aqueduct again, it is not recommended for anyone wary of heights. K.)

Sérgio Motta Bridge, located in the city of Cuiabá, crosses the Cuiabá River and is 327 meters long.
The Reis Magos race is held annually and its start is near the Sérgio Motta bridge.

Brazil 2010 - Scott 3117

The Götakanal or "Blue Ribbon" of Sweden, built in the early decades of the 19th century still provides an east-west waterway from lake Vänern to the Baltic. It has about 50 bridges of very different design along its 190 kilometers. The stamps of 1979 show the swing bridge of Hajstorp and a small lock. The most spectacular locks are the ones at Linköping; even very tall ships can take the canal. The skill and artistry of engraver Slania are immediately obvious.

Bridge of Friendship Brazil-Bolivia - Bridge Wilson Pinheiro - on the Acre River, connecting the cities of Brasiléia (Brazil) and Cobija (Bolivia). The bridge has a length of 150 meters and was inaugurated on 11 August 2004.

Bolivia 2006 - Scott 1282

The Schleswig-Holstein Canal, built from 1777 to 1784 is one of the oldest in Europe. It had 6 locks and connected the Obereider river to the harbor of Kiel. Close to the town of Königsförde one of the old two-leaf folding bridges of the Dutch type has been maintained although most of the canal was replaced at the close of the 19th century by the much bigger Nordsee-Ostsee canal mentioned at the top of page 28. In the stamp of 1984 commemorating the opening of the canal, one sees that even fairly large sailing ships were towed by horses. Today some of the towpath is a pleasant bicycle path. (By the way, the stately mansion in the background, Gut Knopp, is as beautiful as it was then.)


(Hello Jose, Your friendship bridge is very elegant - is it one-lane? K.)

The Langlois double-leaf folding bridge at Arles became famous because it was so often the subject of paintings by Vincent van Gogh who stayed in Arles for some time in 1888. The original bridge was replaced in 1930 and almost all other bridges in the region were destroyed during WWII. A similar bridge was moved to a site close to where Vincent's stood and is now a tourist attraction, but not functional.

For some countries it has become quite a lucrative business to issue colorful souvenir sheets for collectors everywhere. Only those with the van Gogh Bridge at Arles are shown. (I borrowed these scans from the catalog of a German stamp dealer who has specialized in importing such sheets.)

Another stamps