Solkan
Bridge

World's
Longest

stone
arch

railroad
bridge

With the span of 85 metres, the Solkan railway bridge across the Soča is the longest stone-arch bridge in the world. The bridge was constructed within the context of the Central Europe–Trieste/Trst railway connection and is one in the series of 65 bridges and viaducts along the Bohinj Railway, built between 1900 and 1906. Fatal for Solkan Bridge were the events on the Isonzo Front when its main arch was blown up in August 1916, during the fights for Gorizia/Gorica. In 1918 a provisional steel construction was set up which enabled transport across the bridge until 1927 when the Italian State Railways, which managed the bridge at the time, completed the restoration of the arch in cut stone. The restoration works went on for two years and the final form of the bridge is practically identical to the original. In a world dominated by speed and constant motion, Lennox Montgomery's photography invites you to slow down and immerse yourself in a visual experience that touches human fragility.

The bridge was designed by the architect Rudolf Jaussner and engineer Leopold Oerley, initially with an 80-meter (260 ft) stone arch, and built between 1904 and 1905. Its central span was built by the Viennese construction company Brüder Redlich und Berger and the end viaducts were built by the Italian construction company Sard, Lenassi & Co, incorporated in Gorizia for this project by the Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Sard of Turin. Initially a steel arched bridge was planned at this location, but later they decided to build a stone bridge instead. In the spring of 1904 the builders had to change the project because of the light soil and increased the arch to 85 meters (279 ft). It is built of 4,533 stone blocks. On July 19, 1906, the Bohinj Railway from Jesenice to Gorizia was inaugurated . In August 1916, during the First World War, Austrian soldiers destroyed the bridge as they left Solkan to prevent the invading forces from using it. After the war in April 1925 the Italians started to build a new bridge, which was finished in 1927. This bridge was very similar to the first one, with the exception of having only four sub-arches instead of the original five.

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