1812 Constitution Bridge at Sunset, Cadiz Spain

As the sun drops behind the Bay of Cadiz, the cables of the 1812 Constitution Bridge catch the last light and hold it, a steel harp strung between two towers over open water. Below, small boats sit at anchor in the harbor, their hulls doubled in a sky running through every shade of orange and violet at once.

1812 Constitution Bridge at Sunset, Cadiz Spain. Photograph by Sapiens Verbum.

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Quick facts
Photographer: Sapiens Verbum
Subject: Cable-stayed bridge over the Bay of Cadiz at sunset, with boats in the foreground harbor
Location: Puente de la Constitucion de 1812 ("La Pepa"), Bahia de Cadiz, Spain
Medium: Photograph
Series: Cadiz Seascapes

Opened in September 2015 after nearly a decade of construction, the bridge carries the CA-33 motorway across the Bahia de Cadiz between the city and Puerto Real, replacing a much slower route around the bay. Its main span measures 540 metres, the longest of any cable-stayed bridge in Spain, and its tallest tower rises more than 187 metres above the water, among the highest bridge pylons in the world. Locals call it "El Puente de la Pepa," after the popular nickname for the Spanish Constitution of 1812, drafted in this same city during the Napoleonic siege and remembered as one of the most liberal constitutions of its era anywhere in Europe. At sunset, the 176 steel cables strung from its two towers fan out into bright lines against the sky, and the harbor below fills with exactly the kind of reflected color that makes the crossing worth stopping for.

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Part of the Cadiz Seascapes series.