'Fascinating' North Bridge exhibition as thoroughfare set to reopen after eight years
The bridge has faced closures and restrictions for eight years
It is due to reopen this summer after eight years of closures and traffic restrictions as major essential renovation work is carried out.
Now a new exhibition to showcase the 130-year history of Edinburgh’s North Bridge is to be shown through film, historic artworks and objects uncovered during its recent restoration.
Running from 18 July until 13 September 2026, Study for North Bridge is a new film by artists Rachel McBrinn and Jonathan Webb. Created during the bridge’s restoration, it offers a fresh perspective on one of Edinburgh’s best-known landmarks ahead of its reopening in August.
Commissioned by the City of Edinburgh Council as part of the North Bridge restoration programme, the film explores how the bridge has been repaired as well as how the structure shapes the city.
Following the restoration as it unfolds, the film combines real-life footage with imagined scenes to ask how today’s events become tomorrow’s history. Through the voice of a fictional art historian looking back from the future, it encourages visitors to think about how stories are recorded, preserved, and retold over time.
The title, Study for North Bridge, refers to the sketches artists often make while developing a final work. In the same way, the film focuses on the work in progress rather than the finished bridge, revealing the people, processes and hidden details that are normally out of sight.
Alongside the film, visitors can see original pieces removed from the bridge during restoration, displayed with paintings and other artworks from the City of Edinburgh’s fine art collection which portray North Bridge over the past 300 years.
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of guided walking tours. Beginning and ending at the City Art Centre, the tours explore the people, places and stories that have shaped North Bridge, bringing the exhibition to life in the streets around it.
One of the city’s main routes, which connects South Bridge and Old Town with the New Town, the bridge has suffered major travel restrictions since 2018, with bus routes also often affected. Pedestrians have also been affected, with sections of the pavement having been closed while works were carried out at street level.
The bridge is to be cleared of any works at street level, with both carriageways and footpaths set to be fully back in use by the time the Edinburgh festivals begin next month.
Councillor Margaret Graham, culture and communities convener, said: “North Bridge is one of Edinburgh’s most important civic landmarks and has connected communities across the city for more than 130 years.
”As we look forward to the bridge reopening this summer, this exhibition offers a fascinating opportunity to reflect not only on the engineering achievement of its restoration, but also on the stories, memories and meanings attached to the structure.”
A routine inspection of the bridge in late 2016 discovered that water had got into cracks in the concrete. Work started to establish the scale of the problem, with £12m put aside in order to get the bridge into a long-term sustainable condition.
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