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Language: en-GB

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The European Central Bank wanted to put bridges
on their banknotes. The problem was: there

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were 12 countries in the Euro, and only seven
denominations of notes. They couldn't be neutral

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and include a bridge from every country. So
their designer, Robert Kalina, came up with

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fictional bridges, designed to represent all
of Europe. No-one could complain they were

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left out, because the bridges didn't exist
anywhere. Except...

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Welcome to Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam.
A few years ago, when this new housing was

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being built on this island, a Dutch designer
had the idea to build the bridges for real,

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and claim them for the Netherlands. So they
matched everything: all the architectural

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styles, the bright colours that look bizarre
in real life -- and the abstract statues that

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look fine on paper but very strange when you
get close up to them. The higher value the

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note, the more modern the bridge: if you ever
have a five hundred Euro note, then the bridge

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on it will look like this bright purple...
thing.

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The European Central Bank, thankfully, liked
the idea. They gave it a letter of approval,

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and the residents seem to be in on it too. It's
become a small tourist attraction, and something

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to put an otherwise fairly sterile new development
on the map. And besides, how often does someone

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actually get to build infrastructure as a
joke?

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