Determined to provide you with the most comprehensive overview of the destination countries we offer throughout the year, our organization is now taking advantage of your language study trip to Scotland to tell you about the Forth Bridge!
A bridge between Edinburgh and St Andrews
To paint as complete a picture as possible of this architectural icon of the United Kingdom, let’s start by locating it. The Forth Bridge is located 14 miles (about 23 kilometers) northwest of Edinburgh and 38 miles (about 61 kilometers) southwest of St Andrews, a city you’ll have the chance to explore during a language study trip to Scotland with LEC.
An architectural landmark spanning the Firth of Forth
As its name suggests, the Forth Bridge (to be called Forth Bridge during your language study trip to Scotland) spans the Forth, a river in the north of the United Kingdom that flows into the North Sea. It connects to the North Sea via a long estuary stretching approximately 100 kilometers, known as the Firth of Forth.
The second-longest cantilever bridge in the world
The Forth Bridge owes its uniqueness to its architecture: it is what is known as a cantilever bridge, meaning a structure whose beams were built in a cantilevered fashion, through successive overhangs. Stretching over 2 kilometers, it is the second-longest bridge of its kind in the world, behind the Quebec Bridge.
A site designated by UNESCO in 2015
UNESCO was spot on about the legendary status of this Scottish structure: in 2015, the organization added the Forth Bridge to its World Heritage List. It praises its “innovative style, materials, and scale” and states that the structure “marks an important milestone in bridge design and construction.”