Vittorio Emanuele Bridge

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Watercolor by the engineer Richard La Nicca
Representation by William Turner
Accident in March 1824

The Vittorio Emanuele bridge was a bridge over the Moësa on the new trade route over the San Bernardinopass in the canton of Graubünden , which was built between the summer of 1819 and the summer of 1823. In 1869 it collapsed.

description

The road connected the economic centers of Lombardy and Piedmont with northern Europe. In addition to the canton of Graubünden and the municipality, the Kingdom of Sardinia, which is interested in the connection, also contributed to the financing .

The project and the execution of the work were under the direction of the Ticino entrepreneur and State Councilor Giulio Pocobelli (1766–1843) from Melide TI . For the lines, Pocobelli chose the slope on the right bank and crossed the Moësa at its narrowest point with a large arched bridge . It had a wingspan of 21.30 meters (72 feet) and its height above the river was 30 meters (106 2/3 feet). The roadway was 5 meters (20 feet) wide. Pocobelli dedicated this “showpiece of the new street” to the Sardinian King Vittorio Emanuele .

collapse

Project sketch for the new construction of the upper part, 1826

The negligent execution of the work, construction errors and the instability of the rock at the eastern abutment led to serious damage to the construction. The upper part of the bridge had to be rebuilt as early as 1826/27; The engineer was Richard La Nicca .

In March 1824 there was an avalanche just before the bridge, in which the Landammann Pietro Schenardi from Roveredo GR was also killed. The imaginative depiction by an unknown artist shows the bridge mirrored. In 1833 the Englishman William Henry Bartlett drew the bridge on his journey over the San Bernardino, in 1841 William Turner .

In 1864 a new route was planned and implemented on the left bank of the river; As a new crossing over the Moësa, the Ponte Nev (New Bridge) was built a few hundred meters downhill . The stretch of road with the dilapidated “Königsbrücke” was left to decay. The bridge collapsed in the summer of 1869. The foundation on the western side of the Moësa has been preserved quite well; on the other hand, hardly anything of it can be seen.

Above the Ponte Nev , the course of the old road is still clearly visible. An information board reminds of the "Königsbrücke".

photos

  • View from the new pass road

  • right break point

  • Location of the bridge

  • old route of the former pass road

literature

  • The royal bridge Vittorio Emanuele, "my favorite child" . In: Federal Roads Office (Ed.): Historical traffic routes in the canton of Graubünden . Bern 2007, p. 34-39 ( PDF ).

Web links

Commons : Bridge Vittorio Emanuele  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Meyer: The new streets through the canton of Graubünden. In Dreyssig scrolls from Chur over the Splügen to Lake Como, and over the Bernhardino to Bellinzona ... with an introduction and explanations by Doctor JG Ebel ... along with a route map by H. Keller , 1826, page 90
  2. ^ Leza Dosch: Art and Landscape in Graubünden , Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2001

Coordinates: 46 ° 28 '38.4 "  N , 9 ° 10' 23"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and eighty-nine  /  148 806