Just received this message from the Industrial Archaeology e-mail bulletin list:
I forward this e-mail to the list, as some list members may be able to help the Flemish Association for Industrial Archaeology (www.vvia.be)
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:50:12 +0200
From: VVIA <vvia@vvia.be>
Subject: Call for help: save the oldest Vierendeel-bridge in Flanders
The Flemish Association for Industrial Archaeology is campaigning to save at least a part of the oldest Vierendeel Bridge in the
World Heritage town Brugge, see the article in Flanders Today
http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/unique-bridge-destined-scrapheap All the other Vierendeel-bridges were destroyed during two world wars - only this one survived till now.
Vierendeel (1852-1940) was a famous Belgian engineer
(see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Vierendeel) who invented the so-called Vierendeel truss. Such trusses do not have the usual trianglular voids seen in a pin–joint truss bridge, rather employing rectangular openings and rigid connections in the elements, which (unlike a conventional truss) must also resist substantial bending forces. Movable bridges of this type are very rare. Only one swing bridge of this type is known: the Scheepsdale bridge in Brugge.
The Vierendeel principle, a construction similar to a truss but with rigid joints, was used in the New York World Trade Center.
A photo report on the Scheepsdale Bridge can be found at:
http://www.vvia.be/sites/lijst_WV/8000001.htm A list of existing and disappeared bridges where the Vierendeel-principles were used is compiled at the website
http://users.telenet.be/karel.roose/vierendeel/vierendeel.html Please help us
and send a letter or a e-mail which pleads for saving at least a relevant part of this bridge
to:
- the City Council of Brugge, Burg 12 - B-8000 Brugge an/or to the Lord Mayor, kabinet.burgemeester@brugge.be
- the Historic Buildings Department of Brugge, Oostmeers 17, B-8000 Brugge, monumentenzorg@brugge.be
- the Flemish Minister in charge of Heritage Conservation, Geert Bourgeois, Arenbergstraat 7, B-1000 Brussel, kabinet.bourgeois@vlaanderen.be
- the Flemish Historic Buildings Department, Koning Albert II Laan 19 bus 3, 1210 Brussel
- the Flemish Minister of Public Works, Mrs H. Crevits, Koning Albert II laan 20 bus 1, B-1000 Brussel, kabinet.crevits@vlaanderen.be
- Mr. Paul Breyne, governor of the province of West-Flanders, Burg 3, B-8000 Brugge
Please forward this message to friends and colleagues in your country
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'Vlaamse Vereniging voor Industriële Archeologie'
(Flemish Association for Industrial Archaeology)
P.O. Box 30 - Post Office 'Gent Stationswijk'
B-9000 Gent-12
Flanders-Belgium
fax (+32)(0)56/255173
e-mail: vvia@vvia.be
http://www.vvia.be and
http://industrialheritage.be The VVIA is the overall volunteer association for the study, the preservation and the interpretation of industrial and technical heritage in Flanders
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visit our website at:
http://www.vvia.be/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
The VVIA is a member of the European Federation of Associations for Industrial and
Technical Heritage / E-FAITH - see:
http://www.e-faith.org/----------------------------------------------------------------------
