Cast iron bridge in Laasan

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The cast iron bridge in Laasan was the oldest bridge of its kind in Germany. It was built in 1796 in Laasan , Duchy of Schweidnitz (today the city ​​and rural community Żarów , Powiat Świdnicki , Lower Silesian Voivodeship , Łażany in Polish ) and destroyed in 1945.

At the beginning of the 1790s, Imperial Count Niclas Wilhelm von Burghauß regulated the course of the Striegau water in his Laasan estate and planned to cross the nine-meter-wide river. In 1794 he commissioned the ironworks in Malapane to build an iron bridge. In England, the first bridge of this type ( The Iron Bridge ) had stood over the River Severn in Ironbridge south of Coalbrookdale since 1779 . The construction of the Laasaner bridge was under the supervision of John Baildon (1772-1846). 60 workers were employed on the construction site. On-site assembly took 15 weeks and the building was officially opened on July 15, 1796. The construction costs amounted to 13,000 thalers. On the occasion of the festival, Count v. Bughauß at the Breslau medalist King 300 medals.

The bridge had a span of 12.55 m, a height of 2.80 m and a width of 5.70 m. The payload was six tons. The bridge was used by Napoleonic troops from 1806 to 1808 and by Prussian and Russian troops in 1813.

In the 1930s and 40s there were plans to move the bridge to Breslau and build it in Scheitniger Park . At the beginning of March 1945, however, the bridge was blown up by the soldiers of the 88th heavy tank destroyer division.

In 2003 the remains of the bridge construction were lifted out of the water. They are being prepared for exhibition as a monument to the technology of the 18th century.

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Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 17.6 ″  N , 16 ° 29 ′ 54.3 ″  E