Gertraudenbrücke

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Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 45 ″  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 10 ″  E

B1Gertraudenbrücke
(old and new)
Gertraudenbrücke (old and new)
View from the south over the Spree Canal
use Road traffic and pedestrians
Convicted Gertraudenstrasse
Crossing of Spree Canal , Friedrichsgracht
place Berlin center
construction two parallel steel girders on concrete abutments 1 ,
stone arches on stone abutments 2
overall length 38.0 m 1
width 33.5 m 1 , 22.0 m²
Longest span 18 m 2
Clear height 3.3 m 2
vehicles per day 2,320 trucks
69,500 vehicles
start of building 1977 1 , summer 1894 2
completion Late 1978 1 , mid-1896 2
location
Gertraudenbrücke (Berlin)
Gertraudenbrücke

1 : road bridge
2 : pedestrian bridge

The (new) Gertraud bridge in Berlin leads in the district center of the Gertraudenstraße over the Spree canal on the Spree Island . As part of Bundesstrasse 1 in the historic center of Berlin, it is part of the heavily frequented traffic artery that leads from Potsdamer / Leipziger Platz via Leipziger Strasse , Spittelmarkt and Molkenmarkt to Alexanderplatz .

The stone Gertraudenbrücke built between Neu- and Alt-Cölln at the end of the 19th century is a listed building and was replaced in the 1970s by a steel girder bridge that runs immediately to the south, so that today there is an ensemble of two bridges.

history

A bridge over the western Spree Canal had been located on the southern border of historic Cölln since the 13th century . The wooden drawbridge adjoining the Teltower city gate was initially called Teltower Bridge and was a two-part construction due to its island location. In the 15th century, a hospital with a chapel was built in front of the gate, which was consecrated in the name of St. Gertraud . The bridge was now called Gertraudenbrücke . The construction of new city fortifications in the twin cities of Cölln-Berlin in the 17th century led to the demolition of the Gertraudentore and the bridge was rebuilt. 1737–1739, Berlin's chief building director, Titus de Favre, had a new, wide draw and bascule bridge made of wood built and the access to the bridge increased. A historical source from the 18th century describes this situation very clearly:

“The Gertrauten Bridge. It leads from Altkölln, from Gertrautenstrasse, over Friedrichsgracht to Neukölln and Werder. It was built in 1739 by Favre in the current way with counterweights and cost Rthlr in 1950. [= Reichsthaler] without the materials. On this occasion the area was raised. Before the fortification of Berlin, the Gertrauten Thor stood here. At that time there was a double bridge because there was a double arm of the Spree. At the time of the fortification the Gertrautenthor fell. "

Around 1878/1879 the city officials tried to create more space for the increasing carriage and horse-drawn tram traffic (in 1890 an hourly throughput of 70 horse-drawn tram lines is given) by adding three meters wide iron footbridges and a flap reinforcement. At the same time, the neighboring Mühlendamm was widened and the Spree Canal expanded for shipping traffic.

All the reconstruction work on the Gertraudenbrücke was no longer sufficient, and a solid and wider bridge had to replace the previous structures. Master builder Otto Stahn provided the plans for the massive vaulted bridge that is still preserved today and was built in 1895/96. The vault and the cladding of the visible surfaces consist of dark gray-brown Rhenish basalt lava .

Towards the end of the Second World War , the city had the bronze sculpture dismantled because it was to be remelted into military equipment. The bronze caster Hans Füssel (1897–1989) hid the figure, however, and was thus able to save it from destruction. In 1954 the "bridge saint" returned to her place.

In 1977 an unadorned steel girder car bridge was built next to the old bridge. The historical bridge with the statue was adapted to the changed street layout and pedestrian traffic. It is a listed building.

Bridge jewelry and the holy Gertraude

The massive step-like bridge railing that follows the flat arched arch is broken up in the middle area into small ogival fields with ten columns each and wrought-iron ornaments in between. Together with the bronze figure of St. Gertraude it forms the only bridge decoration. The sculpture in memory of the Gertraudenhospital from the 15th century was modeled by Rudolf Siemering in 1896 and cast in bronze in the Lauchhammer art foundry. The three meter high statue is supposed to represent the abbess Gertrude of the Nivelles monastery from the 7th century. She is the patron saint against mice and rat plagues, travelers and pilgrims , gardeners and the poor and widows. The numerous animals are cast in bronze on the pedestal , stroking them promises a constant increase in money in one's wallet.

Future of the bridge

The " Inner City Plan " created at the end of the 20th century envisages the long-term restoration of the historic center of Berlin. The implementation for the area of ​​Gertraudenstrasse envisaged the demolition of the new Gertraudenbrücke in need of renovation with a relocation of the road route . Then the old Gertraudenbrücke was to be divided lengthways and the walkways were to be used as the northern and southern bridge parts. A new middle section of the bridge to accommodate the lanes and the tracks of the tram was to be added, so that historical bridge parts were preserved. Due to permanent financial shortages and changed priorities, implementation of the planning should begin in 2011 at the earliest, although the Senate Department for Building, Housing and Urban Development already presented zoning plans for the newly designed Gertraudenbrücke in early 2009.

  • Gertraudenbrücke 1880, in front of the new building

  • In the foreground the Gertraudenbrücke, around 1900

  • Old Gertrauden Bridge, 2009

  • Figure of Gertraude

  • Pedestal with inscription and rats

Attractions near the bridge

  • Juwelenhaus , Gertraudenstraße 10: in the past a clothing store, gold and jewelery smithy, seat of a music publisher, wedding outfitter, bookstore. Long vacant after the fall of the Wall , it was acquired by the Baden entrepreneur Karlheinz Hurle in 2002. The office building, now known as the Jewel House , was created from the five-story listed building by the architects Max Jacob and Georg Roensch for over three million euros . The Berlin Wedding House has now established itself on the lower floors .
  • Petriplatz
The Gertraudenbrücke on a GDR postage stamp

Stamp

In 1985 the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication of the GDR published a series of “Berlin Bridges”, the 10 Pfennig value of which shows a side view of the (old) Gertrauden Bridge.

See also

literature

  • Elisabeth Lemke: The monument of St. Gertrude on the Gertraudten Bridge. In: Ernst Friedel (ed.): Large Berlin calendar. Illustrated yearbook. 1913 . Verlag von Karl Siegismund, Berlin 1913, pp. 224–225.
  • Eckhard Thiemann, Dieter Deszyk, Horstpeter Metzing: Berlin and its bridges . Jaron Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89773-073-1 , pp. 82-84
  • Marina Wesner, Claudia M. Melisch: St. Petri Church . Berlin 2008, ISBN 3-929829-87-8 , pp. 49-50

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Traffic volumes for trucks in 2014 . Road traffic census 2014 as of October 16, 2015 (pdf)
  2. ↑ Traffic volume map DTV 2014: vehicles in 24 hours
  3. ^ Description of the royal residence cities of Berlin and Potsdam, all the peculiarities located there, and the surrounding area. Friedrich Nicolai (Verlag) Berlin, 3rd revised edition 1786, pp. 139/140
  4. ↑ Short biography and works of Hans Füssels accessed on May 15, 2010
  5. ↑ Book excerpt from St. Petri Church ...
  6. ↑ Reference list of the Lauchhammer art foundry, see 1896 ( Memento of the original of October 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 29, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kunstguss.de
  7. ↑ Development drawing for the Scheibenhaus Gertraudenbrücke . ( Memento from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Urban development Berlin; Retrieved March 6, 2009
  8. ↑ Architectural monument jewel house
  9. ↑ Katja Fischer: A jewel on the Gertraudenbrücke . In: Die Welt , March 5, 2003
  10. ↑ Homepage wedding house berlin