The Q’eswachaka Bridge

The Q’eswachaka Bridge (also spelled Qeswachaka, Keshwa Chaca or Keswachaka) is a rope bridge. It is slightly over 90 feet long, about 4 feet wide and spans 161 yards across the river Apurimac in Peru. This last remaining Inca rope bridge is an architectural piece of art; it is built using a traditional method that is over 500 years old.

Side view of the suspension bridge                The actual walking path on the bridge

The bridge is solely made out of Ichu grass, also known as ‘feather grass.’ The bridge only remains strong for one year and therefore requires rebuilding from scratch every year.

For this event, about 700 people from the Andean towns of Quehue Huinchiri, Choccayhua, Ccolana and Chaupibanda come together to rebuild the bridge from scratch. Blades are woven and braided into dozens of bales of rope and then the ropes are linked to the bridge.

The first part is to braid it into strings, which will then be connected together.

Men carrying the ropes to be strung across the river.

The first ropes are linked to the cliffs.

When the bridge is completed it is dedicated by a traditional priest and the new bridge is celebrated with a festival.

This year, the Smithsonian is featuring Peru in their upcoming Folklife Festival. A dozen indigenous Inca craftsmen will weave together these grass ropes into a 60-foot span. Since there are no vertical cliffs in DC, the suspension bridge will be strung on the National Mall between Jefferson and Madison Avenues, where it will hover 16 feet above the ground. It should be able to hold the weight of ten people.

The finished bridge will then become part of the National Museum of the American Indians’ collections. One section in the new exhibition will be called “The Grand Inca Road: Engineering an Empire,” while another length of bridge will travel to the museum’s New York City location in time for the fall 2016 opening of the children’s imagiNATIONS Activity Center.

For more information, including a video that shows the building of the bridge, go to: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/inca-rope-bridge-built-span-national-mall-washington-dc-180955609/?no-ist