Grünstraßenbrücke
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 42 ″ N , 13 ° 24 ′ 21 ″ E
| Grünstraßenbrücke | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| use | Pedestrians and special vehicles | |
| Convicted | New green road to Fischerinsel | |
| Crossing of | Spree Canal | |
| place | Berlin , district of Mitte | |
| construction | stone arch bridge | |
| overall length | 40 m | |
| width | 17.7 | |
| Longest span | 19.0 m | |
| Clear height | 4.5 m | |
| start of building | 1904 | |
| opening | 1905 | |
| planner | Richard Wolffenstein | |
| location | ||
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The Grünstraßenbrücke in the Berlin district of Mitte is one of the early Spree crossings in the old town center of Cölln . Instead of a wooden Jochbrücke with flaps for the ship passages , the stone Grünstraßenbrücke was built between 1903 and 1905. After being partially destroyed at the end of the Second World War and subsequent repairs, it has been on the Berlin list of monuments since the 1970s.
history
A book about the royal seat of Berlin from the 18th century reports on the existence of two Grünstraßenbrücken:
“The second half of Neukölln cuts through [...] the Grünstraßenbrücke, leads from Grünstraße in Altkölln, over Friedrichsgracht to Neukölln. [...] The new Grünstraßenbrücke or Laufbrücke [...] leads from Neukölln to the new Grünstraße in the Köllnische Vorstadt. "
(Note: the height of today's Neue Grünstraße 15/16 above the fortress moat at that time)
It was evidently a bridge for carriage and horse riding and a pedestrian bridge next to it. The bridge structure got its name from the road leading over it, which in turn is attributed to the abundant green of the marshy Spree island.
When the neighboring Roßstrasse Bridge and the Gertrauden Bridge had been rebuilt as stone arch structures towards the end of the 19th century , the Berlin magistrate decided to build a new one for the Grünstraßen Bridge as well. The draft resolution justifies the need for construction in cumbersome official German as follows:
“The bridge leading over the Spreeschleusenkanal in the course of Grünstrasse and Neue Grünstrasse currently still shows the form of a wooden yoke bridge, which was previously common, with a central passage opening of 7.0 meters clear width, which is spanned by two pairs of flaps also made of wood. Although the train on Grünstrasse and Neue Grünstrasse cannot be counted among the first-rate traffic trains, it forms a not unimportant connection between the south and north of the lock canal in connection with the Brüderstrasse on the one hand and the Alte Jakobstrasse and Stallschreiberstrasse on the other districts of the residence, and in view of the steadily increasing traffic here, too, it seems absolutely necessary to replace the bridge structure, which in its dimensions is no longer sufficient in its dimensions, with a new one that also looks worthy of the imperial capital in its exterior gets, through its solid road construction, the traffic disruptions caused year in and year out for water and land transport by the existing folding device are eliminated and finally the repetitive repair work on a wooden bridge structure is put to an end. "
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The Berlin architect Richard Wolffenstein designed the appearance of the solid vaulted bridge, the sculptor Ernst Westphal designed reliefs on both sides that show scenes of everyday life and Art Nouveau ornaments such as snails, water plants and fish. A figural relief warns of the dangers of the river: a group of four people help someone who has fallen into the water, another depicts washerwomen by the river who are also busy telling news. It is also possible that the sculptor alluded to the nearby laundry of Wilhelm Spindler (1810–1873) with this subject . Spindler ran a very well-known laundry and dye works in Spindlershof (between Wallstrasse and Neuer Grünstrasse) before moving to the outskirts of Berlin. The large visible surfaces of the bridge are covered with shell limestone. On both sides at the top of the bridge there is a bear coat of arms facing the Spree.
The Grünstraßenbrücke was also blown up by German Wehrmacht specialists in early 1945, and part of the vault became unusable. In 1951 the East Berlin administration had the bridge repaired. Shell limestones recovered from the remains could be used to restore the visible areas of the bridge. The reliefs have been preserved but were in very poor condition.
After the German reunification of the 1970s under was for the overhaul monument standing bridge money made available to the working up of pillars, arches, balusters could be done and reliefs in 1994-1995. The bridge is closed to vehicle traffic, but it has four street lights in the shape of historical gas lamps on the sidewalk.
Adjacent
At the southern end of the Grünstraßenbrücke numerous preserved buildings are worth mentioning, which are in the Berlin list of monuments, such as the commercial building on the corner of Neue Grünstraße 24 / Wallstraße 15 / 15a (architects Johann Hoeniger and Jakob Sedelmeier ), a former substation (architect Franz Schwechten ) at the intersection of Neue Grünstraße 12 / Alte Jakobstraße 91, commercial courtyards from the end of the 19th century in Neue Grünstraße 17/18. On the east side of the Grünstraßenbrücke a narrow staircase leads down to a riverside path.
Art projects on the bridge
In the summer of 2008, the artist project Walk to Walk set up two so-called “White Cubes” on the Grünstraßenbrücke, in which experimental film art was presented. As part of the same project, Vania Rovisco and Abraham Hurtado performed the dance performance Bridge on a wall on the Grünstraßenbrücke together with the guitarist Jochen Arbeit from Einstürzende Neubauten .
See also
literature
- Eckhard Thiemann, Dieter Desczyk and Horstpeter Metzing: Berlin and his bridges , Jaron Verlag, October 2003, p. 81, ISBN 3-89773-073-1 .
- Uwe Kieling and Günter Schneider: City of Bridges Berlin , Jaron Verlag, March 1999, ISBN 3-932202-13-9 .
- Dieter Breitenborn: Eine Brücke tells , article in the BZ in the evening , 1971.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
- Grünstraßenbrücke. In: Structurae
- Private bridge database with an old view of the 19th century wooden Grünstraße bridge
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- ^ 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; P. 138/139 accessed on April 11, 2009
- ↑ Berlin and its bridges , […]; P. 81, line 23 ff.
- ↑ Architectural monument Wallstrasse / Neue Grünstrasse 24
- ↑ Monument Umformwerk
- ↑ Monuments Neue Grünstraße 17/18, commercial courtyards, before 1892, remodeling in 1910 for Deutsche Eisenhandel AG Alte Jakobstraße 85/86
- ↑ Info I on the art project Walk to Walk , accessed on April 11, 2009 (PDF; 74 kB)
- ↑ Info II on the art project Walk to Walk , accessed on April 11, 2009 ( Memento from January 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )