The existing ancient Luoyang Bridge is built with granite. It is about 731 meters long and 4.5 meters wide, with 45 piers. There are 500 railing stone pillars on both sides as guardrails, among which 28 are lion-shaped railing pillars. The longest stone bridge slab used is 11 meters long, 0.98 meters wide and 0.8 meters thick, weighing several tons to over ten tons.
North and south of the bridge, there are 4 stone generals guarding the bridge erected during the bridge construction in the 11th century, 7 stone pagodas and 26 steles recording the bridge repairs in past dynasties in the middle pavilion.
It has a ship-shaped bridge foundation design. Such a design can not only reduce the impact force of water but also has a relatively good aesthetic effect.
Luoyang Bridge is an early existing cross-sea beam-style large stone bridge in China and also the beginning of the raft foundation of bridges in the world. The special feature of the bridge design is the “oyster-planting foundation reinforcement method”, that is, a large number of oysters are cultivated under the bridge. Skillfully taking advantage of the characteristics of strong adhesion and fast reproduction speed of oyster shells, the bridge foundation stones and pier stones are glued and condensed into a solid whole. This is also the world’s first initiative to apply biological knowledge to bridge engineering.
There is also the Cai Xiang Memorial Temple, which was first built in the Song Dynasty, at the bridgehead. You can see the stone statue of Cai Xiang there. It was built in memory of Cai Xiang. The famous Song Dynasty stele of Cai Xiang’s “Record of Wan’an Bridge” is erected inside the temple. The article on the stele is short and concise. It records the time, age, length and width of the bridge, the silver spent and the people involved in the bridge construction in 153 characters. The calligraphy is beautiful and the carving work is delicate. Cai Xiang is one of the four great calligraphers in the Song Dynasty. His self-written stele adds a lot of luster to Luoyang Bridge.
Luoyang Bridge is mainly famous for its history, rather than its beautiful and spectacular scenery. It doesn’t take much time to walk back and forth. Along the way, the steles of different periods tell its long history. Come here to see the bow-shaped piers and appreciate the architectural art of ancient bridges. You can also look at the river water below through the stone gaps on the bridge and feel the surging of the river water on the bridge.
Another thing worth mentioning is that it is a free-to-visit bridge among the four ancient bridges in ancient China.
Opening hours: Open 24 hours a day throughout the year. The specific business status is subject to the opening situation on the day.
