The Norwegian and Swedish monarchs opened a new bridge between their countries Friday.
King Harald V of Norway and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden met with great fanfare in the middle of the Svinesund bridge spanning a fjord south of Oslo.
Harald called the 2,300-foot-long bridge “a strong symbol of the unity between the brother nations.”
Norway is celebrating 100 years of independence from Sweden, which dominated a union between the two countries until 1905.
The two monarchs unveiled a stone monument of two hands extending toward each other, and shook hands themselves amid applause from a crowd of dignitaries and business leaders.
The new bridge, billed as the world’s largest single-arched bridge, is meant to ease car traffic between the countries. About 15,000 cars cross the fjord every day.