In collaboration with the Contact Group Experimental Mechanics in The Netherlands and under the auspices of the Technological Institute of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Ingenieurs Vereniging (Royal Flemish Society of Engineers), the Department of Ap plied Mechanics of the Koninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs (Royal Institution of Engineers in The Netherlands) organised the second National Mechanics Congress in The Netherlands, on November 16-18, 1992. About hundred participants from universities and industrial research laboratories in The Netherlands and Belgium discussed topics around the theme: Building Bridges, Integration of Theory and Applications in Applied Mechanics. Building bridges is of course one of the main tasks of a civil engineer, in order to improve the infrastructure of our society. Strength, stiffness and stability have to be guaranteed for a large number of years of service. Localised effects such as shear lag in longitudinal stiffeners, small cracks in concrete structures and effects of corrosion may on the long tenn lead to catastrofic failure of bridges. During the congress J.P. Gailliez presented a talk about the hydraulic ship lifts in the Canal du Centre in south Belgium. Built more than a hundred years ago, the elevators still are in a perfect condition and are recognized now as an industrial archeological monument.