Bacunayagua Bridge: One of the Seven Wonders of the Cuban Architecture

Cuba is an island that has many places to explorefor the communication between Havana and
during your holidays and thousands of marvels to seeMatanzas was officially settled.
and to discover. One of this wonders is theThis impressive step that is 18 kilometers away to the
Bacunayagua Bridge, built in the borders of Havanawest of the city of Matanzas and it establishes the
Province and Matanzas.territorial limit with the county of Havana. To the north
Matanzas had the opportunity to inaugurate in the firstof the bridge, the immense sea is sighted; the channel
year of the Revolution the longest and highest bridge inand the outlet of what should be the bed of a mighty
Cuba until that moment. Its construction is historically ariver in a remote time, and to the south, the extensive
crisscross with the Via Blanca (the highway thatand exuberant Valley of Yumurí.
connects Havana City and Varadero), begun byThe importance of that crossing for the Via Blanca
Carlos Prío Socarrás´ government, with theresides in that is the nearest and direct connection, for
purpose of shortening the distance between Matanzasthe beautiful landscape of the Cuban north coast,
and Havana. A total of 41 columns sustains the bridgebetween the Tunnel of the capital of the country and
of Bacunayagua, those that were in its moment thethe City Spa of Varadero.
most slender in the world made of concrete.The beauty of the environment of Bacunayagua,
In 1957 the works of construction of the bridge began,favored by the execution of that advanced project,
classified during that time as a colossal work, not onlyalternates with multitude of headlands, hillsides and
for its extension but for the height on an immense cliff.mangroves, natural refuge of great ornithological
Its columns possess a pile of 22.50 meters each one,importance where 74 species of birds cohabit with 16
with a width of a meter for 1.60 meters, and someof reptiles and eight of amphibians. In the ecosystem
reach the 42 meters high.of swamp of this area vegetable formations appear
On its bolsters there are 6 beams that weigh eachas the heath coastal xeroformo and the forest
one 47 tons, and that they were fused in the samesemideciduo, besides a rich and varied fauna with high
place the bridge was being built. In total the bridge haspercent of endemism.
a height 103 meters, with a longitude 314 meters and aThe magnitude and splendid image of the place can be
width of 17. On September26, 1959, Fidel Castro Ruzappreciated perfectly from the Mirador, located in an
and Celia Sanchez inspected the works, the crossingelevation to the end west of the wonderful work. This
for the splendid bridge constituted the moment in thatis a unique invitation you must take during your holidays
the road was inaugurated; although it did not go up toin the island.
October of that year, when the opening of the paths