Aspern Bridge

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The Aspern Bridge in Vienna

The Aspern Bridge crosses the Danube Canal in Vienna and connects the Inner City and Leopoldstadt districts .

location

The Aspern Bridge is located 800 meters northeast of St. Stephen's Cathedral and not far from the Radetzky Bridge , where the Vienna River flows into the Danube Canal. The Urania (public observatory and culture cinema) is located directly on the Aspern Bridge, and the former Ministry of War (now the government building ), the Vienna Rescue Center and the University of Applied Arts are also nearby .

history

1863-1913

Aspern Bridge in the 1870s

The first Aspern Bridge was built from April 1863 as a chain bridge at the expense of the city ​​expansion fund under the direction of Georg Rebhann (1824-1892) by the engineers Johann Fillunger (1807-1879) and Friedrich Schnirch (1791-1868) as an extension of the newly built ring road into the Leopoldstadt built. It was named on July 14, 1864 after the scene of the victorious battle of Austrian troops under Archduke Karl von Österreich-Teschen against the French under Napoléon Bonaparte .

The Aspern Bridge was opened on November 30, 1864 by Emperor Franz Joseph I as part of a large-scale patriotic entry of Austrian troops from the Nordbahnhof ( Praterstern ) over the new (richly flagged) bridge to the Schneider'schen Haus ( Kärntner Ring 9) General Ludwig Karl Wilhelm Freiherr von Gablenz , who, together with Prussia , had successfully participated in the Second Schleswig-Holstein War .

Construction characteristics of the bridge were: The bridge piers were in the from Oslip on Lake Neusiedl originating limestone executed; the chain hoses were with Perlmoser - Portland cement poured; The bridge deck was a two layer, applied on wooden planks (Bruck litter) asphalt surface , the upper layer of gravel ballast was added.

For decoration, allegorical figures by the artist Franz Melnitzky were placed on the pedestals of the chain anchor . These symbolized war, peace, fame, prosperity. Stone lions - also by Franz Melnitzky - were placed in front of these figures.

Two of these lions are now in the town of Horn at the entrance to the castle (Wienerstraße).

Since the bridge, about ten meters wide, was meanwhile too weak for traffic, it was demolished after a long discussion on the basis of a municipal council resolution on May 27, 1913. A temporary wooden footbridge was built south of the bridge for pedestrians.

1913-1945

The construction work was carried out by the bridge construction company R. Ph. Waagner and L. & J. Biró & A. Kurz. The architectural design was the responsibility of Max Hegele , the construction management was in the hands of the Vienna City Planning Department .

After the beginning of World War I , construction work on the arch bridge halted. The iron workers of the construction companies had to start their service in the armaments factories. After the end of the war there were enough skilled workers again, but there was again a lack of coal for cement production .

The Aspern Bridge was opened to traffic on November 30, 1919. However, the completion of the last work on the structure was recorded on July 26, 1922.

On the night of April 9-10, 1945, the Aspern Bridge was blown up by the German Wehrmacht . In June 1945 Russian pioneers built an emergency bridge above the blown bridge, which was opened to traffic on October 2, 1945.

After 1945

Night lighting (2009)

Between 1949 and 1951 the new Aspern Bridge was built by the Waagner Biro company according to plans by Erich Franz Leischner . The bridge has a length of 88.97 meters, a total width of 27.95 meters and a total weight of 925 tons. The construction costs amounted to 15.5 million  schillings (today about 12 million euros, adjusted for inflation).

literature

  • Christine Klusacek, Kurt Stimmer: The city and the electricity. Vienna and the Danube. Edition Wien, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-85058-113-6 .

Web links

Commons : Aspernbrücke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry of the troops. In:  Die Presse , Abendblatt, No. 331/1864 (XVIIth year), November 30, 1864, p. 1, bottom. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / maintenance / apr
  2. ↑ G (eorg) Rebhann: (...) Mittheilungen (...) . In: Weekly meeting on November 26, 1864 . From: Josef Herr (Red.): Journal of the Austrian Engineering Association . Issue 12/1864 (16th year), ZDB -ID 2534635-0 . Bartelmus, Vienna 1864, p. 278. - Full text online (PDF; 1.6 MB).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Archduke Wilhelm (1827-1894) owned an apartment in the palais-like maison meublée completed in 1863 by Anton Schneider (1820-1872) , from whose balcony Empress Elisabeth took the parade, while Emperor Franz Joseph (mounted) in front of the Drasche'schen house ( Opernring 3–5) gave a speech to many hundreds of officers . - See: Entry of the Troops. In:  Die Presse , Abendblatt, No. 331/1864 (XVIIth year), November 30, 1864, p. 1, bottom. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / maintenance / apr

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 41 ″  N , 16 ° 22 ′ 58 ″  E