Leonardo da Vinci sketched a swing bridge with a rotating central section to let ships pass.
A swing bridge turns horizontally around a vertical pivot. When closed, it carries traffic across the waterway; when opened, its span moves aside to create a navigable passage for vessels. Leonardo’s bridge studies explored how structural supports and moving parts could be combined without sacrificing stability.
The design belongs to the broader family of movable bridges. A bascule bridge lifts by rotating upward around a horizontal axis, while a swing bridge rotates sideways around a vertical one. Leonardo’s notebooks contain many bridge concepts, and not every drawing represents a bridge that was built or used in practice.