Vasco da Gama Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal Sep 10, 2024

Vasco da Gama Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal

Today"s image features the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Portugal, which looks like a sleek line cutting through Lisbon"s skyline. Up close, it is a cable-stayed bridge with viaducts, stretching across the Tagus River in Parque das Nações, a civil parish in Lisbon. The second longest bridge in Europe, it also holds the title of being the longest in the European Union. Built to ease the traffic jam on Lisbon"s 25 de Abril Bridge and make travel smoother between the north and south of Portugal, the construction of the Vasco da Gama Bridge began in February 1995. It is earthquake-resistant, designed to absorb shifting during a quake. Since its deck is not fixed to the pylons, it can move both lengthwise and sideways. Inaugurated on March 29, 1998, the bridge"s opening was perfectly timed for Expo 98, the World"s Fair celebrating the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama"s historic sea route discovery from Europe to India.

© Achim Thomae/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Sep 10, 2018Party like it’s 5779
Sep 10, 2019Welcome to my neck of the woods
Sep 10, 2020Hidden beauty in Thailand
Sep 10, 2021Celebrating all things Austen
Sep 10, 2022Mid-Autumn Festival
Sep 10, 2023Grandparents Day
Sep 10, 2025Hay bales in North Yorkshire, England

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Mar 11, 2023Marshland, Gloucester, MA
Jul 12, 2023Nakupenda Beach Nature Reserve, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Mar 12, 2021Ringing in the new year at Teotihuacan
Apr 18, 2025International Day for Monuments and Sites
Jan 24, 2023Colle Santa Lucia, Dolomites, Italy
Nov 21, 2025World Hello Day
May 26, 2021Behold the blood moon
Nov 10, 2023Badlands National Parks 45th anniversary
Nov 4, 2020Caribou on the move
Dec 5, 2018’Chess on ice’
Nov 23, 2022Fibonacci Day
Dec 10, 2019Congratulations, 2019 Nobel Prize laureates!
Sep 30, 2018Aw shucks, it’s oyster season in Galway
Oct 3, 2020In the belly of Fat Bear Week
Jul 12, 2021A lofty lighthouse and a little ocean spray
Jul 6, 2022Kissing Day
Jun 5, 2019Happy trees = Clean air
Feb 14, 2024Valentines Day
Jun 13, 2021Bear watching in the Finnish forest
Jan 10, 2019‘You should see the one that got away!’
Sep 9, 2021Islands of the Salish Sea
Sep 15, 2024National Hispanic Heritage Month
Jul 15, 2024Marine Day, Japan
Jan 17, 2020A seabird gets schooled
Oct 8, 2021An uncommonly cool critter
May 13, 2021Hues of Hokkaido
Dec 14, 2023Christmas Bird Count
May 30, 2020Meandering through Patagonia
Jun 10, 2025Everglades National Park, Florida
Aug 31, 2020At the shore of an inland sea