Did Eiffel design Porto's Dom Luís I Bridge?

Who designed the Dom Luís I Bridge?

It all began with a competition. In 1880 one was called to replace the old suspension bridge that had crossed the river at that very spot since 1843. A Portuguese engineer, João Joaquim de Matos, drew up the outline brief, setting the rules the final design had to follow, and ten companies came forward with twelve proposals between them.

The winner was the Société de Willebroeck, a Belgian construction firm, with a design signed by Seyrig. And it wasn't the cheapest bid: it was the third most expensive. Work began in 1881. The upper deck opened in 1886; the lower deck wasn't ready until 1888.

Here's the curious part: even the official records can't agree on who Seyrig was. For the company that manages the bridge, Infraestruturas de Portugal, he was a Belgian engineer and one of Eiffel's disciples. For Portugal's heritage inventory, he was a French engineer who'd been Eiffel's partner on the railway bridge. You can see how the famous name slips in.

Why does the Dom Luís I Bridge have two decks?

Because the competition demanded it. The brief insisted on two decks, one joining the low-lying districts of Porto and Gaia down by the river, the other joining the districts up on the hillsides. Both banks are steep, and with a single level, half of each city would have been left out.

The result is an iron arch with one deck resting on top, roughly 390 metres long, and another hanging beneath it, 174 metres long, according to the heritage inventory. The metro runs across the top, and you can walk across the bottom.

The bridge Eiffel did build: the Maria Pia

A few years earlier, the problem was the railway. From 1864 trains reached Devesas station in Gaia, but they couldn't cross the Douro into Porto. Of three possible solutions, the one chosen came from Eiffel & Cie: a 354-metre deck, 62 metres above the river, with no piers in between, carried on an arch with a 160-metre span. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel and Théophile Seyrig. Work started on 5 January 1876 and finished at the end of October 1877.

While it was being built, people called it the D. Fernando Bridge. On the day it opened, 4 November 1877, it was renamed the Maria Pia in honour of the queen, wife of King Luís I, who was there. At the time it had the largest iron arch in the world, and at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878 the Eiffel firm won a grand prize for it.

It even has a scene straight out of a film. Pedro Inácio Lopes, the railway company's engineer in charge of the project, walked across the bridge with his wife the moment the deck was in place, before it had any railings.

Trains crossed it for almost 114 years, until 24 June 1991, the day the São João Bridge by Edgar Cardoso opened. So Porto really has a queen's bridge, by Eiffel and Seyrig, and a king's bridge, by Seyrig alone.

Where does the confusion come from?

Several things at once. The first is the likeness. Both are iron arches over the same river, and they share a parent: Seyrig. At first glance they look alike, but the railway bridge has a crescent-shaped arch and a single deck, and the construction details are very different.

The second is the labels. If an official record calls Seyrig one of Eiffel's disciples, it's a short hop to "the bridge is Eiffel's".

The third is right there at street level: the avenue running beside the bridge on the Porto bank is called Avenida Gustavo Eiffel.

And the fourth is a design that was never built.

What about Eiffel's rejected design?

Some popular timelines of the bridge say that, before the competition, the government turned down a design from the Eiffel firm with a single deck at riverside level and a lifting section in the middle to let boats through. According to that version, that's why the 1880 competition required two decks. It fits with what is documented, but we haven't been able to read that proposal in a primary source, so treat it as an oft-repeated story that hasn't been confirmed.

There's one more detail worth watching. It's sometimes added that this rejected design won a grand prize at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. None of the reliable sources we've read backs that up: according to Portugal's national railway company, the 1878 grand prize was for the Maria Pia Bridge. It looks like Eiffel turning up where he doesn't belong, once again.

Porto's bridges, in order

These are the Porto bridges that feature in this story, in order:

The bridge of boats (1806). Opposite the Ribeira; in 1809 it was the only link with the far bank.
The suspension bridge (1843). Replaced by the Dom Luís I. Two of its stone pillars survive on the Porto bank.
The Maria Pia Bridge (1877). The railway bridge, by Eiffel and Seyrig. Taken out of service in 1991.
The Dom Luís I Bridge (1886). Seyrig's bridge, with the lower deck completed in 1888.
The Arrábida Bridge (1963). Reinforced concrete, with a 270-metre arch, by Edgar Cardoso.
The São João Bridge (1991). Also by Edgar Cardoso; it took over from the Maria Pia for the trains.

A clue that leads to Lisbon

The trick of pinning Eiffel's name on an iron landmark turns up again in Lisbon, with the Santa Justa Lift. And there's a nice twist: its designer, Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, was born in Porto, and right beside this bridge he left another of his inventions, the Guindais funicular.

Fact or legend.

Fact: the Dom Luís I Bridge was designed by Théophile Seyrig for the Belgian Société de Willebroeck. It opened in 1886, and the lower deck was finished in 1888.

Fact: the 1880 competition required two decks, one for the lower and one for the upper parts of Porto and Gaia.

Fact: the Maria Pia Bridge, from 1877, is by Eiffel and Seyrig, and the Eiffel firm built it.

Sources that disagree: one official record calls Seyrig Belgian and a disciple of Eiffel; another calls him French and Eiffel's partner.

Not confirmed in a primary source: the Eiffel firm's earlier single-deck design with a lifting section.

Likely mix-up: according to Portugal's national railway company, the 1878 Paris grand prize was for the Maria Pia Bridge, not for that rejected design.

Where to hear it

Podtour tells this story on The Douro and its bridges: from the Ribeira to Gaia, twelve stops along the river that cross to Gaia on the lower deck. Before you cross, the stop "A bridge with two levels" explains why the bridge has two decks and who designed it. A little earlier, "Two pillars holding up nothing" tells you what's left of the suspension bridge, and "The funicular that slept for a century" covers Mesnier's invention. For the practical side of your trip, see our Porto guide.

Did Eiffel design the Dom Luís I Bridge? The truth about Porto's bridges

Who designed the Dom Luís I Bridge?

Why does the Dom Luís I Bridge have two decks?

The bridge Eiffel did build: the Maria Pia

Where does the confusion come from?

What about Eiffel's rejected design?

Porto's bridges, in order

A clue that leads to Lisbon

Where to hear it

Further reading

Where to hear this story

The Douro and its bridges: from the Ribeira to Gaia

Plan your time in Porto

Your first city,
on Podtour.

Your first city,
on Podtour.

Who designed the Dom Luís I Bridge?

Why does the Dom Luís I Bridge have two decks?

The bridge Eiffel did build: the Maria Pia

Where does the confusion come from?

What about Eiffel's rejected design?

Porto's bridges, in order

A clue that leads to Lisbon

Where to hear it

Further reading

Where to hear this story

The Douro and its bridges: from the Ribeira to Gaia

Plan your time in Porto

Your first city,on Podtour.

Your first city,on Podtour.

Your first city,
on Podtour.

Your first city,
on Podtour.