The Erasmus Bridge is the Rotterdam bridge completed in 1996 that is nicknamed the Swan because of its white asymmetrical pylon.
It crosses the Nieuwe Maas and connects Rotterdam’s northern city center with the Kop van Zuid district. Ben van Berkel designed the bridge, whose prominent pylon rises 139 metres and supports the cable-stayed roadway. The southern section includes a bascule span so ships can pass along the river.
The nickname refers to the pylon’s curved, elegant silhouette rather than to a separate sculpture. The bridge quickly became a symbol of modern Rotterdam and appears frequently in the city’s architecture and event imagery. Its mixture of a cable-stayed main span and a movable section makes it both a landmark and a working transport link.