Ponte 6 de Março, bridge in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Ponte 6 de Março, known in Recife as Ponte Velha, crosses the Rio Capibaribe between the Boa Vista neighbourhood and the Casa da Cultura side. It was built to carry the sanitation mains of engineer Saturnino de Brito across the river and opened on 6 March 1921. A plaque at its eastern head, beside the Casa da Cultura, gives the name Ponte Nova.

The original bridge at this site was built in 1643 as the Boa Vista Bridge during the rule of Maurice of Nassau. The current bridge opened in 1921 and was named after the Pernambuco Revolution of March 6, 1817, a turning point in local history.

Locals call it Ponte Velha after Rua Velha, the street that begins at its Boa Vista end. The official name marks 6 March 1817, when the Pernambucan Revolution broke out. A plaque at the eastern end, beside the Casa da Cultura, reads Ponte Nova.

The bridge crosses the Rio Capibaribe between the Boa Vista neighbourhood, where Rua Velha begins at its western end, and the Casa da Cultura on the eastern bank. Cross on foot to reach the Casa da Cultura, housed in the former Recife prison, and look for the plaque naming the bridge Ponte Nova.

The nickname "Ponte Velha" comes from Rua Velha, the street that begins at its Boa Vista end, not from the bridge's own age. The plaque reading "Ponte Nova" at the eastern head, beside the Casa da Cultura, preserves the name the 1921 crossing received when it replaced the 1643 Boa Vista bridge.