The iron suspension footbridge of Wissekerke

The oldest surviving iron suspension bridge in Belgium and one of the oldest on the European Continent is spanned over a pond in the park of the castle of Wissekerke in the district of Bazel-Kruibeke. The Brussels engineer Jean-Baptiste Vifquain made its design in 1824. In spite of the modest span of 23 meters, the bridge is of great value, both for history and industrial archaeology because of its historical and structural uniqueness.

Since 1981 the bridge at Bazel is a protected historic monument. At present, this historical heritage is in very poor condition and some urgent maintenance and restoration works should be conducted.

The paper focuses on the determination of the material characteristics, as this is a very important step in the restoration process.