!!!Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge

Photos by Stanislav Sedov and Sergey Semenov
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

 3 April 2019

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

A walk through the glass bridge can be compared to a skywalk: you have a
feeling there is nothing under your feet and it seems you are flying
above the ground. The idea of creating such a breathtaking effect has
long been brought to life: for example, some of the constructions of
Tower Bridge that was built at the end of the 19th century have glass
inserts. But the first fully glassed bridges began to be constructed
only in the 21st century because only by this time technologies could
guarantee safety and strength of the materials.

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Now the glass bridges are found all over the world, from Austria to
Canada, but China is the record-holder in the quantity and
characteristics. Some of the bridges are built over picturesque rivers
and ravines, and the highest among them is also located here:
Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge built in Hunan Province in 2016.

The bridge measured 6 meters in breadth was constructed between two
mountain cliffs around 300 meters above the ground. Till 2018, it was
also the longest glass bridge in the world with 430 meters in length. In
February, the record has passed to Hongyagu Glass Bridge in Hebei
Province. Since its height is only 218 meters, Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge
is still the highest one in the world.

[{Image src='02_Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China.jpg' caption='Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='524'}]

The bridge was designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan. To build the
bridge, engineers erected 4 support pillars on the edges of the walls of
the canyon, then attached steel frames and 120 glass panels. Each of
them has three layers of tempered glass. The initial project of the
bridge supposed the use of wood, but then someone suggested using the
glass instead, and the calculations showed that glass panels of 5 cm
thick will make the surface of the bridge 25 times stronger.

[{Image src='03_Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China.jpg' caption='Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='524'}]

By reflecting the landscape, the bridge merges with it and becomes
"transparent". It is also surrounded by the fog, artificially created
with the use of special water dispensers, so that visitors have a
feeling of walking above the clouds.

[{Image src='04_Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China.jpg' caption='Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='513'}]

The bridge has facilities for making bungee-jumps — an extreme activity
of jumping down at 265 metres down using a rope. The bridge also opens a
marvellous view of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park — the place that
was officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This park was
unofficially named "Avatar Park": even though the filming was carried
out in other places, it is widely thought that the Zhangjiajie Park was
the place where James Cameron was inspired to create his movie.

[{Image src='05_Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China.jpg' caption='Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, China\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='524'}]

Zhangjiajie Bridge has set ten world records in the field of design and
architecture. To demonstrate its strength, a two-ton truck drove through
the bridge at the opening day. The experiment was a success and now the
capability of the bridge is 800 people simultaneously standing on the
bridge, while the daily number of visitors should be not more than 8,000
people.

We invite you to have a walk through the highest glass bridge in the
world!

\\ \\
[2018) panoramas of Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge|Geography/Asia/China/Pictures/Video_Zhangjiajie_Glass_Bridge]

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