Old Elster Bridge
Coordinates: 50 ° 29 ′ 33 ″ N , 12 ° 8 ′ 30 ″ E
| Old Elster Bridge | ||
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| Convicted | Footpath | |
| Subjugated | White magpie | |
| place | Plauen | |
| construction | Arch bridge | |
| overall length | 75 meters | |
| width | 7.25 meters | |
| Clear height | 4.0 - 4.50 meters | |
| completion | 1244 (first documented mention) | |
| opening | August 3, 2007 (reopening) | |
| location | ||
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The Old Elster Bridge in Plauen is the second oldest preserved stone arch bridge in Saxony after the Meißen Castle Bridge (1221/28) and one of the oldest in Central Europe. It was first mentioned in 1244 as "Pons lapideus" (stone bridge).
location
The bridge is in the center of the city. It spans the White Elster and the Mühlgraben. Shortly before the bridge, both the Syra and the Milmesbach flow into the Elster. The Mühlgraben flows into the Elster approx. 250 meters behind the bridge.
history
bridge
The bridge was built at a point where two old trade routes from the south met, and then continued to Thuringia and towards Bohemia. The old Elsterbrücke was part of the city fortifications of the city of Plauen. The bridge could be defended by two defense towers built on the bridgeheads. Exactly how the towers and the high cheek walls were made is not known. It is certain, however, that the gate passages in the two towers were not firmly arched as long as the towers existed. Instead of the solid stone vault, there must have been wooden planking, which must have been removable or extendable in order to make the passages easily impassable in the event of danger. The high cheek walls had vertical loopholes, as they also served as defensive walls. So far it is also unknown how the five bridge piers were founded at the beginning of the 13th century, and whether an area was founded with a stone packing warehouse, or whether piling was used.
In 1817, Kreishauptmann vd Planitz proposed to demolish the outer bridge tower and the high bridge walls and move the gatekeeper apartment to the inner tower. This was implemented and the bridge opening on the first southern pillar was vaulted. Following a proposal by the government in 1840, the inner bridge tower was also demolished, footpaths laid out and iron railings installed instead of the old parapet walls. This work was completed in 1844. The Saxon distance column , which was erected there between 1725 and 1732 under the direction of Adam Friedrich Zürner from Vogtland , but had no function from 1840, was also removed.
The bridge was widened with a steel superstructure and re-consecrated in 1880 as the " King Albert Bridge". On November 15, 1894, the tram went into operation, which then initially ran on a single track, and from November 28, 1903 on, finally ran on two tracks over the Alte Elsterbrücke.
A bomb hit shortly before the end of the Second World War severely damaged the south side of the bridge. However, it could be repaired and in 1945 it was renamed “Neustadtbrücke” and from 1949 to “ Dr.-Wilhelm-Külz-Brücke ”. Since 1991 the structure has been called the “Old Elster Bridge”.
Due to the increasing road traffic, another bridge was built in the early 1970s in the immediate vicinity of the Old Elster Bridge, the New Elster Bridge . In November 1973 this was opened for tram and motor vehicle traffic. In 1984 the renovation of the old Elsterbrücke took place, which was then reopened as a pedestrian bridge. In 1986, as an indication of the importance of the old trade routes, a replica of the Saxon post-mile column was erected in front of the bridge, roughly at the location of the old column, but without inscriptions and made of Rochlitz porphyry . In 2006 and 2007 a comprehensive renovation of the old Elster bridge took place. The renovated bridge was inaugurated on August 3, 2007. In an accident, the post mile column was destroyed on December 2, 2010 except for the coat of arms. The column was then reconstructed, on the one hand the inscriptions were added and on the other hand the year was corrected. The reconstructed column was handed over on the day of the open monument on September 11, 2011 and put up again on October 19, 2011.
Surroundings
On January 26, 1332, the St. Elisabeth Hospital on the Werder was founded by Vogt Heinrich the Elder, right next to the bridge. It was given to the brothers of the German House , who were obliged to read a mass on site every day. The building was a two-story rectangular building with a pitched roof and external dimensions of 13 by 22 meters. It was built in such a way that the narrow side completely closed off the second arch on the east side of the bridge. The main rooms on the upper floor could be entered directly from the bridge. During the Hussite War, the hospital was destroyed in 1430 and the city gave 600 guilders to rebuild. Due to the great city fire in 1548, in which a large part of Plauen was destroyed, the hospital was also a victim of the flames. During the reconstruction, the hospital received a Renaissance gable. Between 1767 and 1836 the building served as an orphanage before being used again as a hospital. In 1861 the hospital went into private ownership and was used by a grocery wholesaler and a sauerkraut factory. In 1945 the building was badly damaged in a bombing raid and in 1949 the remains were finally removed.
In the immediate vicinity of the lower bridge gate, to the west of the bridge, was the Untere Mühle or Kreuzermühle . It must have been at least as old as the Johanniskirche , as the mill is also mentioned in the consecration certificate of the church. From 1224 to 1244 it belonged to the bailiffs of Plauen and half to the Teutonic Order. With a certificate from that year, it then passed completely into the possession of the order, which also ran the hospital nearby. The name "Kreuzermühle" also goes back to the Teutonic Order, as the members of the order who operated the mill could be recognized by their white coats with a black cross. The mill burned down and rebuilt several times. It was finally demolished in 1940.
Right next to the bridge was also the mint of the bailiffs, which was first mentioned in 1244 and was destroyed in 1945, and the "old guard".
construction
At a length of 75 meters and a width of 7.25 meters, the Alte Elsterbrücke spans the White Elster with three openings on the southern side and the Mühlgraben with one opening on the northern end. The two arches in between bridge the Werder. The bridge line has a flat curve, slowly rises from the south bank to a height of 5.5 meters and then drops off again a little on the north side. The six circular segment arches made of flat-breaking slate of the region with clear widths of 7.0 to 9.0 meters are supported by five, 3.0 to 4.5 meter wide pillars made of granite ashlar masonry, some of which are reinforced with reinforced concrete during repair and then with Theumaer fruit slate were clad. The apex of the four central arches is 4.0 to 4.50 meters. The arches have a thickness of around 70 centimeters at the apex. The bridge pavement of the 6.15 meter wide carriageway consists of large pavement, which at the ends indicates the old buildings with customs and watchtowers by a red paving. The natural stone parapets , which were raised to one meter during the renovation , were covered with 8 centimeter thick slabs of Theuma fruit slate. 14 street lights are mounted on the parapet walls.
See also
literature
- PR Beierlein / E. Taubert: From the life and work of Adam Friedrich Zürner , Vogtlandmuseum Plauen , 1972.
- Collective of authors: Lexicon Kursächsische Postmeilensäulen , transpress-Verlag für Verkehrwesen Berlin, first edition 1989.
- Walter Ludwig: A walk through Alt-Plauen , series of publications by the Vogtlandmuseum Plauen, issue 60, second edition 1993, pp. 43–47.
- Walter Bachmann : Das alte Plauen , Vogtländischer Heimatverlag Neupert Plauen, second edition 1994, ISBN 3-929039-43-5 , pp. 33-39.
- Hans-Dieter Pfeiffer, Joachim Schmiedel: Weisse-Elster-Brücke Plauen (Old Elster Bridge). In: Steinbrücken in Deutschland. Verlag Bau + Technik, 1999, ISBN 3-7640-0389-8 , pp. 249-252.
- Freie Presse, December 3, 2010, p. 3.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Article from August 25, 2011 in the Freie Presse on the reconstruction of the post mile column. Retrieved April 21, 2016 .
- ^ Report from September 12, 2011 in the Free Press on the handover of the post mileage column. Retrieved April 21, 2016 .
- ↑ Report of October 13, 2011 in the Freie Presse on the re-establishment of the post mile column. Retrieved April 21, 2016 .