Nine Arch Bridge
A brick and stone viaduct in the jungle, with a train crossing it—highland Sri Lanka's most photographed sight. The Nine Arch Bridge near Ella was built without a single metal component in an era when the world built with steel. Today it's a pilgrimage site for Instagrammers and a point where colonial engineering meets tropical landscape.
History
Construction
The bridge was built in 1921 as part of the Colombo-Badulla railway. World War I was ongoing, steel went to weapons. British engineers and local workers built the bridge from available materials: brick, stone, cement. 91 meters long, 2...
