STRENGTHENING OF STONE MASONRY ARCH BRIDGES THREE ...

History
The Age of Enlightenment and the scientific approach to bridge design started with the
Italian Renaissance of the 15 th century, which gave us the chain arch bridge and the
segmental arch. But it became established in France in the 18yh century with Hubert
Gautier’s Traite des Ponts published in 1716 and the formation of the Ecole des Ponts et
Chaussees in 1747, which gave us balanced thrust arches.
This also led later to the separation of appearance from constructional necessity. In the
19 th and 20 th centuries the Ecole des Pontes et Chaussees advocated that the principles
of masonry arch appearance should apply even if the structure underneath was not
masonry. This Beaux Arts view, which was so in conflict with Modernism, probably
hastened the separation of engineers from training in aesthetics, and promoted the idea
of bridges being solely about pure engineering, and the false argument that “the
appearance will look after itself if the structure is functional”. Hitler’s fondness for
masonry arches on early autobahns probably aided their rejection post-war.
Leonardo da Vinci Program 6