Old Bridge (Bratislava)
Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 18 ″ N , 17 ° 7 ′ 2 ″ E
| Old bridge | ||
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| Official name | Starý most | |
| use | Pedestrian, cycle path and tram bridge | |
| Crossing of | Danube | |
| place | Bratislava | |
| overall length | 465 m | |
| Longest span | 137 m | |
| height | 10 m | |
| start of building | 1889 | |
| opening | 1891/1945/2016 | |
| location | ||
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| Above sea level | 133 m | |
The Old Bridge ( Starý most in Slovak , 1945–1990 Most Červenej armády [Red Army Bridge]) is the oldest bridge in Bratislava . It is an iron bridge in a curved upper chord construction with five pillars. The pillars are made of natural stone masonry. The bridge has a total of six spans (32.3 m + 106.7 m + 137.2 m + 75.6 m + 75.9 m + 32.2 m).
The 465 meter long Danube bridge has sidewalks and cycle paths on both sides as well as two four-rail tracks (1000 mm / 1435 mm), which are dedicated to a line of the Bratislava tram to the southern district of Petržalka (Audorf or Engerau). There are viewing platforms on both sides above two pillars. As the only bridge over the Danube in Bratislava, the bridge is not allowed to be used by motor vehicles.
history
The first bridge in Pressburg (today: Bratislava) was the Carolinen Bridge, a ship bridge ( pontoon bridge ) built in 1825 , which was located approximately at the former Coronation Hill Square, today's Ľudovít-Štúr-Platz ( Námestie Ľ. Štúra ). It was built after various wooden bridges did not last long due to ongoing damage from the Danube ice drift . This ship bridge lasted until the end of 1890.
Today's Old Bridge stands on the site of the former Franz Josephs Bridge ( most Františka Jozefa ), the first steel bridge (steel truss bridge) in Bratislava, which was opened personally by Emperor Franz Joseph I on November 9, 1891 .
After the municipal bridge tolls were transferred to the Hungarian state in a city council meeting on November 5, 1888, nothing stood in the way of building a permanent bridge that could be used all year round. The construction of the bridge was commissioned on the initiative of the then Hungarian Minister of Transport, Gábor Baross . The Swiss engineer and entrepreneur Salezius Franz Cathry was entrusted with the planning and drafting, and the construction work began on August 12, 1889.
The "Kaiser Franz-Joseph-Brücke" over the Danube , which at that time enabled a faster connection with Vienna and the Hungarian cities on the other bank of the Danube (especially Raab and Steinamanger ), contributed significantly to the industrial development of the city. On November 9, 1891, the railway field the Franz Joseph Bridge was linked to the new railway line and put into operation, whereby the southern part of the city - and with it the new industrial area in Mühlau - to the southern railway network by Raab and Szombathely connected was. During the track construction, the track structure of the old horse-drawn railway between the bridge and the branch station was included in the planning. During this period, the Neustädter Bahnhof (opposite the Andreasfriedhof ), which no longer existed between 1881 and 1882, was built, which was expanded into a junction, since trains to the Große Schüttinsel also ran from here from 1895 .
At the time of the first Czechoslovak Republic it was named after Milan Rastislav Štefánik ( Štefánikov most ). From 1914 to 1945 the Pressburger Bahn , an electric train to Vienna, also ran over the bridge .
During the Second World War, the steel structure was destroyed, but parts of the stone pillars were preserved. After the end of the war in 1945, the current bridge was built by the Red Army and its German prisoners of war and was the only bridge on the Danube in Bratislava until the opening of the bridge of the Slovak National Uprising in 1972. It had a two-lane road surface, wooden sidewalks on both sides and a railway track, which was finally abandoned in 1985. At that time intended as a provisional solution for ten years, the bridge was partially in operation due to lack of funds until it was gradually closed in the years 2008–13, although the suggestion was made again and again to finally tear it down.
As of December 31, 2008, general traffic across the bridge was blocked. Only public transport buses and cyclists were allowed to use the bridge. In the meantime, on May 15, 2010, both the street and the sidewalk were completely closed due to significant construction defects in the roadway. Then the road (but not the sidewalk) was removed to avoid the risk of falling into the river. From 2011 until the construction-related closure on December 2, 2013, the bridge was once again open to pedestrians and cyclists.
New building
On October 22, 2013, the Bratislava City Council signed the contract for the reconstruction of the Old Bridge and construction of the tram to Petržalka. The dismantling ran until spring 2014. The new old bridge was completed in May 2016 (opening May 17, 2016) and is said to have cost 70 million euros . In accordance with the wishes of the population, it was painted green and its style is reminiscent of the old bridge, but has only five instead of six pillars, gives ships more height and has two tram tracks. 4.5 m wide walkways were erected on both sides, of which 1.5 m are one-way cycle paths and 3 m are walkways.
literature
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Web links
- Old Danube Bridge in Bratislava. In: Structurae
- Information about the bridge on rail.sk (Slovak)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Petržalská električka - 1. časť: úsek Štúrova - Starý most - Bosákova , imhd.sk (Slovak), accessed on July 31, 2016
- ↑ The ship's bridge was the occasion of the coronation of Carolina Augusta of the fourth wife of Emperor Franz I . to the Queen of Hungary, donated by the rulers of the city of Pressburg with a deed of gift dated December 13, 1825. In her honor it was named "Karolinen Bridge". The Preßburger Zeitung No. 70 from 1825 reported: “The new and unknown type of this means of communication and the fact that one could walk from one bank to the other without hindrance attracted innumerable curious people from all walks of life. The bridge rested on 32 “ships”, was 148 fathoms long and 24 fathoms wide and was built very neatly. ” (Quoted by Emil Portisch: Geschichte der Stadt Bratislava-Pressburg, 2 vols. Bratislava-Pressburg 1932/1933, vol. 2 , P. 433). The Karolinen-Brücke could be opened in the middle to allow the steamship traffic that was starting at that time. The Karolinen Bridge was last in operation until December 13, 1890. Since the Danube was usually frozen over during the winter months, the Karolinen Bridge could not be used during this time of year. It was dismantled before the beginning of the frost period and deposited in a specially designated place on the fishing grounds by the spring of next year. See Emil Portisch: History of the City of Bratislava-Pressburg, 2 vols. Bratislava-Pressburg 1932/1933, vol. 2, p. 433; also with Anton Klipp: Preßburg, New Views on an Old City, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 , p. 70.
- ^ Anton Klipp: Preßburg, New Views on an Old City, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 , p. 86.
- ↑ Cathry planned - on the basis of a contract concluded with the government - an iron structure resting on six pillars and consisting of seven fields. Of the five fields above the current, four had a span of 76 meters each and the central main field (with arch attachment) had a span of 92 meters. The two slightly lower aprons on the respective bank sides spanned a length of 32 meters. The original total length of the bridge was 460 m and spanned the 300 m wide Danube river bed. The bridge consisted of three separate crossings for road traffic in the middle (6.5 m wide), for pedestrians on the upstream side (width 3.0 m) and in November 1891 the bridge for rail traffic came (downstream) added. The bridge was positioned above the highest measured high water mark and was therefore not an obstacle for the steamship traffic, which was already rapidly beginning. The iron construction was supplied by the machine works of the Royal Hungarian State Railways. The entire structure devoured the proud sum of 1,780,000 guilders. The access to the bridge and the design of the surroundings were carried out by the Pressburg city chief engineer A. Sendlein. On December 30, 1890, the bridge was inaugurated in the presence of Emperor Franz-Joseph (whose name it was also given) and then opened to traffic. On April 3, 1945, the bridge was blown up by the retreating German troops. After the war it was rebuilt in a simplified form under the leadership of the Red Army and the Allies - mostly by German prisoners of war. In today's Bratislava it is called "Starý most" [Eng. "Old bridge"]; see. Anton Klipp: Preßburg, New Views on an Old City, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 , p. 86.
- ^ Anton Klipp: Preßburg, New Views on an Old City, Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 , p. 86 f.
- ↑ Starý most zrejme zbúrajú . In: SME , May 23, 2008 and Starý most - mesto o súťaži zatiaľ mlčí . In: SME , December 22, 2008
- ↑ Starý most od soboty May 15, 2010 bez MHD , Administration of the City of Bratislava, accessed on July 5, 2010
- ↑ Návrat na chodcov Stary most ever zatiaľ otázny , Bratislava noviny, accessed 3 January 2011
- ↑ New Old Bridge in Bratislava completed by Radio Slovakia International, inserted May 26, 2016
Lafranconi Bridge (Most Lafranconi) | Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising (Most SNP) | Old Bridge (Starý most) | Apollo Bridge (Most Apollo) | Harbor Bridge (Prístavný most)
Under construction: Rusovský Bridge (Rusovský most)