Puente de la Mujer Tours and Activities

Puente de la Mujer, or Women’s Bridge, is a footbridge in the Puerto Madero district of Buenos Aires. It was designed by the renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and modeled after very similar bridges spanning the rivers in Seville, Spain and Redding, California. The prominent feature that all three bridges share is the big steel needle jutting at a sharp angle into the sky. The needle functions as an anchor for the suspension cables and holds up the entire span. According to the creator, the whole structure is supposed to show a couple dancing the tango, with the needle representing the man and the curved body of the bridge embodying the woman being lowered to the ground. Additionally, many of the streets in this Buenos Aires district have women’s names, a fact that Calatrava wanted to honor when he named Puente de la Mujer.

An interesting function of the bridge is its rotating feature to let water traffic pass through. The mobile section making up the center of the bridge is able to rotate 90 degrees, when it is working that is. Since the city has left the responsibility of maintaining the structure with the family that sponsored the construction, the 160 meter long pedestrian bridge is not in operation while matters of upkeep are being sorted out.