The Bridges That Never Existed — Spijkenisse
When Austrian designer Robert Kalina designed the bank notes for the euro in 1996, he chose to depict fictional bridges rendered in different styles of Europe’s cultural history: classical, Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, baroque, rococo, industrial and modern. This perfectly generic and uncontroversial design was selected by Brussels’ bureaucrats so as not to offend any nation.
Dutch graphic designer Robin Stam chose to make them real. It started as a joke, but if enough supporters can be found, ten bridges closely based on the engravings from the reverse sides of the bank notes will be built in Spijkenisse, a suburb of Rotterdam. Stam appropriated the colours and styles and made the unclaimed euro bridges Dutch. The first two bridges have already been built; the others have been delayed due to the euro crisis.