Recognise the Prior Park Palladian Bridge as 'The Opeth Bridge'
The Issue
For thirty years, Opeth fans around the world have known one particular bridge in Bath by another name.
The Opeth Bridge. In 1996, Swedish progressive metal band Opeth released their second album, Morningrise. Its now-iconic cover featured the Palladian Bridge at Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath, a bridge dating from 1755 and one of only four of its design in the world. For most visitors, it is the Palladian Bridge. For generations of Opeth fans, it has become something else entirely.
The image became inseparable from Morningrise, an album that has gone on to occupy a special place in Opeth's history. Fans have travelled to Prior Park specifically to find the bridge, photograph it and stand in the place they first encountered through the artwork of an album released thousands of miles away in Sweden. Some landmarks are given cultural significance deliberately. This bridge has acquired it.
2026 marks 30 years since the release of Morningrise. We're asking the National Trust to officially recognise the connection between Opeth, Morningrise and Prior Park by giving the bridge the name fans have already been using for decades: The Opeth Bridge. This isn't about replacing or diminishing the remarkable history of Prior Park. Quite the opposite. The bridge's Georgian history and architectural importance will always be part of its story.
But heritage doesn't stop accumulating. Over the last thirty years, an unexpected new chapter has been added: a Georgian bridge in Bath became part of the visual history of a Swedish metal band and, through that connection, became known to music fans across the world. Recognising that connection would celebrate something wonderfully unusual — the way music, art, architecture and place can collide and give an historic landmark an entirely new audience.
So we're restarting the campaign begun by fans in 2020 and asking Opeth listeners, music fans, Bath residents, visitors to Prior Park and anyone who believes that cultural history should sometimes have a little fun to add their name. The fans have called it the Opeth Bridge for thirty years. Now let's put it on the map.
Sign the petition and help us ask the National Trust to make the Opeth Bridge official!
1
The Issue
For thirty years, Opeth fans around the world have known one particular bridge in Bath by another name.
The Opeth Bridge. In 1996, Swedish progressive metal band Opeth released their second album, Morningrise. Its now-iconic cover featured the Palladian Bridge at Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath, a bridge dating from 1755 and one of only four of its design in the world. For most visitors, it is the Palladian Bridge. For generations of Opeth fans, it has become something else entirely.
The image became inseparable from Morningrise, an album that has gone on to occupy a special place in Opeth's history. Fans have travelled to Prior Park specifically to find the bridge, photograph it and stand in the place they first encountered through the artwork of an album released thousands of miles away in Sweden. Some landmarks are given cultural significance deliberately. This bridge has acquired it.
2026 marks 30 years since the release of Morningrise. We're asking the National Trust to officially recognise the connection between Opeth, Morningrise and Prior Park by giving the bridge the name fans have already been using for decades: The Opeth Bridge. This isn't about replacing or diminishing the remarkable history of Prior Park. Quite the opposite. The bridge's Georgian history and architectural importance will always be part of its story.
But heritage doesn't stop accumulating. Over the last thirty years, an unexpected new chapter has been added: a Georgian bridge in Bath became part of the visual history of a Swedish metal band and, through that connection, became known to music fans across the world. Recognising that connection would celebrate something wonderfully unusual — the way music, art, architecture and place can collide and give an historic landmark an entirely new audience.
So we're restarting the campaign begun by fans in 2020 and asking Opeth listeners, music fans, Bath residents, visitors to Prior Park and anyone who believes that cultural history should sometimes have a little fun to add their name. The fans have called it the Opeth Bridge for thirty years. Now let's put it on the map.
Sign the petition and help us ask the National Trust to make the Opeth Bridge official!
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on 4 September 2026