The Cachorro Bridge

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The Santísimo Cristo de la Expiración Bridge is an urban bridge in Seville that crosses the River Guadalquivir and is the natural exit from the town to the Aljarafe and the province of Huelva. It was built in 1991.

It consists of a steel structure, with two lowered arches with a span of 130 metres and no underwater support, which supports a deck of 223 m x 30 m x 30.5 m wide, designed by José Luis Manzanares Japón, inspired by the Alexander III Bridge in Paris.1

The pedestrian crossings along the bridge are covered with white tarpaulins that hang from masts and relieve the heat of pedestrians.

In 1991, Chapina was dismantled, which meant eliminating the cut made to the River Guadalquivir in this area of the town and which recovered more than four kilometres of new riverbed. For this reason, it was decided to build this bridge that crosses the old cut area. The bridge was built over the riverbed when the earth plug that prevented the water from flowing had not yet been removed.

Its name comes from the proximity of the chapel of the Patrocinio, the church from which the brotherhood of Cristo de la Expiración makes its procession during the Holy Week. Since this Christ is popularly known as the "Cristo del Cachorro", the bridge has also this name. It is also usually called the Chapina Bridge.

This bridge has also been popularly known as the "Puente de los Leperos" since the bridge was built first and then the river was made. By that time, leperos jokes were very popular (they are similar to Irishman jokes in the UK). The fact that the bridge was popularly known by that name led the Lepe Town Council, on Spanish Fools' Day 1991 (28 December), to issue a petition requesting that the bridge be officially named, and the town of Lepe would collect a fee for it.

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