Barbara Krueger, age 14, of Dayton, Ohio, for her question:

HOW WAS THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS NAMED?

A beautiful and famous bridge in Venice, Italy, which crosses the canal between the Doges' Palace and the state prison is named the Bridge of Sighs. The bridge received its name because of the unhappy prisoners who had to cross it long ago.

The prisoners went from the prison to the palace for trial through one passageway of the bridge. If they were found guilty, they were sent back to execution by another passageway.

The bridge was built by Antonio Contino in the late 1500s.

Lord Byron refers to the Bridge of Sighs in his classic poem, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage."

There's also a Bridge of Sighs at Cambridge University that was named after the bridge in Venice.

A covered passageway between the Tombs prison and the former criminal courts building in New York City was also called the Bridge of Sighs. The bridge was built so that prisoners could be taken from the prison to the courtrooms without having to face people while crossing the street.