Amidst fireworks, modestly dressed dancers and a speech from the prime minister that was greeted with lusty boos by the tens of thousands of people in attendance, Santiago Calatrava’s controversial Bridge of Strings in Jerusalem was dedicated in June.

Sasson Tiram Crossing is supported by 66 cables strung from angled 118-m-tall pylon.

The scale of the ceremony was ample indication that this work is meant to play a role that goes beyond mere infrastructure: The $70-million cable-stayed bridge, carrying part of a 13.8-kilometer light-rail line and located in a gritty neighborhood at the city’s western entry point, has been asked to serve as a modern landmark for an ancient city, symbolic proof that Jerusalem is forward-looking and growth friendly.

The steel-and-glass, S-shaped, 360-meter-long bridge is supported by a single, oddly bent steel pylon that soars 118 m above one of the city’s busiest intersections (ENR 6/18/07 p. 18). Its form, with 66 supporting cables, is richly evocative of biblical instruments. Calatrava himself references Psalm 150 as his inspiration: “Praise him with the harp and lyre.”

During extensive talks with ENR that stretched over two days, Calatrava adamantly insisted the bridge’s shape was anything but “capricious.” Rather, it was driven by the solutions devised to address specific technical challenges.

Santiago Calatrava LLC Calatrava defends bridge and explains the design.

“The bridge comes from the result of a combination of functional [demands],” says Calatrava, who has built over 40 bridges in his career. “There are [highway] tunnels down below so we couldn’t put in pillars. Also, the [shape of the] curve was [dictated] by the tramway. So we have had to adapt our techniques in order to do this very large span.

“It took us three models of the bridge in order to achieve the particular inclination of the pylon, trying to minimize the use of materials and to make it as efficient as possible. So the shape that seems to be capricious is not. It is really the result of a very deep introspection into the behavior of the bridge. The goal was to do this [pylon] as clean and transparent as possible. My goal was not to do something that will [come to] signify the city. The opposite: I wanted to almost make it disappear.”

Any major building project in a city with such historic and religious significance is bound to generate contentious responses, and Calatrava's design is no exception. One of the most frequently cited complaints, from architects and casual observers alike, is that the bridge has too much Calatrava in it and not enough local context.

“We have been very sincere and honest by using modern materials, steel and glass,” says Calatrava. “I don’t know why I should not do that.” Calatrava says he also tied the bridge to its surroundings by cladding the embankments in local stone. He further argues that those who live in the area will enjoy a notable uptick in quality of life, with two generously planted plazas at either end of the bridge.

Where does Calatrava situate this project in his career? “Well, you see the idea of peace, ‘salem,’ is integrated into the word Jerusalem. Also bridges symbolically link places, don’t they? All those things, and the holy character of this city, makes the bridge in my opinion something of a highlight for me.”