Middle bridge
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '36 " N , 7 ° 35' 23" E ; CH1903: six hundred eleven thousand three hundred seventy-two / 267710
| Middle bridge | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Crossing of | Rhine | |
| place | Basel | |
| overall length | 192 meters | |
| location | ||
|
||
The Mittlere Brücke (common name, official name but Mittlere Rheinbrücke ) is the oldest crossing of the Rhine in Basel . It is located at Rhine kilometer 166.6 and is considered the border between the Upper Rhine and Upper Rhine . The first bridge at this location was built in the first half of the 13th century and stood - with changes - until 1903 when it was replaced by the current bridge. Until the Wettstein Bridge opened in 1879, the Mittlere Brücke was the only Basel Rhine crossing.
First bridge
The exact construction date of the first Basel Rhine bridge is not known. It is mentioned for the first time in two documents from 1225 with which the monasteries of St. Blasien and Bürgeln were exempted from the bridge toll in return for their financial contribution to the bridge construction. That is why the year of construction is usually 1225. However, it is unclear whether the bridge was already standing, under construction, or even planned at the time. The completed bridge is for the first time tangible for the year 1244, in which a "John on the Rhine Bridge" is mentioned in a document.
Heinrich von Thun , who was Prince-Bishop of Basel from 1216 to 1238, can be seen as the driving force behind the construction of the bridge, even without the exact year of construction . The opening up of the Gotthard route could not have been the trigger, because it only became important for long-distance trade in the 14th century. The Basel historian Werner Meyer suspects that the construction of the bridge was part of Heinrich's regional power politics, who after the death of the last Zähringer in 1218 tried unsuccessfully to expand his rule to the north. In the 12th century, the Zähringers had achieved a dominant position in the region and strengthened it, among other things, by building the bridge in Rheinfelden . After the dynasty died out, a dispute over the orphaned areas probably broke out. The inclusion of the St. Blasien and Bürgeln monasteries, which had lost their patron when the Zähringer died out, can also be seen against this background.
Several bridges spanned the Rhine as early as Roman times. B. in Augusta Raurica (Augst) and Brisiacus (Breisach) (but none in Basel), but these fell into disrepair after the Romans withdrew. Only in the High Middle Ages were solid bridges built over the Rhine again. At the time the Basel Bridge was built, several bridges were already in place above Basel, i.e. between Basel and Lake Constance (e.g. in Rheinfelden , Laufenburg and Konstanz ), and below Basel, i.e. between Basel and the North Sea, but were still standing no. It was not until 1263 that the first bridge was built over the Upper Rhine in Breisach , around 50 km north of Basel, and the next was not added until 1388 in Strasbourg . (The Breisach Bridge is partially dated to 1212, so that it would have been in front of the Basel Bridge.)
The location at the mouth of the Birsig was an obvious choice, as the Grossbasler Ufer is very low here.
construction
The bishop financed the construction of the bridge by pledging the church treasure to the Basel Jews and by donations from the monasteries Bürgeln and St. Blasien as well as various Basel citizens.
Five stone pillars were built in the Rhine on the Kleinbasel side. On the other hand, on the Grossbasel side, the river bed was too deep and the current too strong for stone pillars to be built there with the means of the 13th century. That is why eight oak stilts were erected on this side.
Operation and modifications
The wooden pillars on the left bank of the Rhine were repeatedly washed under and damaged by floods, debris or ice . In 1275, for example, a huge flood is said to have brought the bridge to collapse and killed around a hundred citizens. In July 1424 three wooden pillars were washed away, whereupon fifteen people fell from the poorly repaired roadway into the Rhine a few days later. But the stone pillars also had to be continuously secured against the threat of undercutting and repaired from damage. These high maintenance costs could only be partially covered by the bridge toll .
In 1392, on the occasion of the unification of Greater and Small Basel, a small chapel, the "Käppeli", was built on the fifth, then outermost stone pillar. The chapel also served to weigh down the pillar, which was supposed to withstand the floods better.
In 1457 the stone part of the bridge was extended by a sixth yoke, which was named the "Bärenfelser Joch" after the mayor Hans von Bärenfels . In return, a wooden pillar fell away.
Originally, the Grossbasler bridgehead was secured by a city gate, the Rhine gate . The construction date of the Rhine Gate is not documented, but it is likely that it was built together with the bridge. Until the end of the 14th century, i.e. until the unification of Greater and Small Basel, the last part of the bridge on the Greater Basel side was also designed as a drawbridge. Later the Rheintor developed more and more into a traffic obstacle , so that it was demolished in 1839, 20 years before the Grand Council's decision to expand the city and the demolition of the city walls .
In the first half of the 19th century, the gate with the first pillar on the Kleinbasel bank was torn down. In 1858 the seven wooden yokes were reduced by one, the chapel was moved to the newly built sixth yoke and the remaining pillars were weighed down with 22 stone benches. After the demolition of the first bridge, these stone benches ended up in Margarethenpark and in the Langen Erlen , where they can still be found today. From 1895, the first Basel tram line , which connected the two Basel train stations, also ran over the bridge.
The place of execution at the Käppelijoch
The bridge also served as a place of execution . At the Käppelijoch, the death sentence was carried out by drowning , when child murderers, adulterers and thieves were thrown hand and foot tied into the river. If they were fished alive from the Rhine at the height of the Thomasturm , about 800 m away, i.e. at the city limits at that time (which the nuns of the Klingentalkloster in particular did repeatedly to the great displeasure of the authorities), they were waived the death penalty and they were were instead banished from the city. How far known resuscitation methods were used at that time has not been proven. Resuscitation measures for drowned people and those who were executed, ranging from brushing the extremities to intubation , had been known and widespread across Europe since early modern times. Either way, "too many" convicts apparently survived, so that drowning was replaced by beheading in 1634.
Another form of punishment that came from the Käppelijoch was flooding: Tied up and tied to a rope, the convicts were washed three times under the Rhine bridge.
The end
Due to the regulation of the Upper Rhine in the 19th century, the flow velocity of the Rhine increased noticeably up to above Basel. This led to increased erosion and thus to a deepening of the river bed and accelerated the erosion of the pillars, whose medieval foundations were no longer able to cope with this increased load. The Bärenfelserjoch was so badly damaged that a new, stronger pillar had to be built due to the acute danger of collapse. The necessary maintenance work became more and more complex and expensive, so that the Great Council decided in 1899 to replace the bridge with a new building. A referendum was called against the decision, but it was confirmed in a referendum that same year.
On May 27, 1903, the old Rhine bridge was used for the last time; the demolition began the next day.
Today's bridge
Between 1903 and 1905 the old bridge was replaced by a new one made entirely of stone. The new structure was named "Middle Rhine Bridge". As long as it was the only bridge, the old bridge had simply been called the "Rhine Bridge"; later, when the Wettstein Bridge and the Johanniter Bridge were added, it was called "Old Rhine Bridge". The name “Middle Rhine Bridge” was chosen because at that time three bridges spanned the Rhine in Basel, and it was the middle one.
The bridge is 192 meters long and 18.8 meters wide and is made of granite from the north side of the Gotthard massif . It was developed by Buss & Cie. from Pratteln and Philipp Holzmann & Cie. built from Frankfurt am Main . The construction cost 2.67 million francs. The bridge has seven openings, six of which span the Rhine and one over the Rheinweg on the Kleinbasel side. A copy of the bridge chapel , the Käppelijoch, was built on the middle pillar . The bridge is a major part of historic bridge building in Switzerland. Architectural and urban planning considerations played a decisive role in the selection of construction and building material: In order not to spoil the appearance of the old town, the stone arch bridge by architects Emil Faesch in Basel and Friedrich von Thiersch in Munich was preferred to a contemporary iron truss bridge.
construction
In order to ensure traffic over the Rhine, a temporary bridge made of 12 wooden yokes was built a few meters downstream for the construction period of the new bridge . On November 11, 1905, the new Mittlere Brücke was opened to traffic with a folk festival.
Redevelopment
In 2002 the bridge was renovated. The appearance was not changed.
As part of the car-free city center, the bridge has been closed to motorized individual traffic since the beginning of 2015. In the summer of 2017, the sidewalks were also widened by 40 cm at the expense of the road surface.
art
«Amazon»
At the Grossbasler bridgehead stands the sculpture Amazone, horse leading by Carl Burckhardt . It was commissioned by the Basler Kunstverein and depicts a striding Amazon leading a horse. Burckhardt created the plaster model, but died in 1923 after a brief illness before the casting. The bronze cast was made after his death.
On the sculpture you can see traces of the plaster of paris model, some of which Burckhardt might have removed. The woman should also have held a sagging rein in her hands. So the work is probably unfinished.
The Amazon is Burckhardt's last work. It was originally intended to be in the garden of the Kunsthalle , but after the artist's unexpected early death, the Kunstverein donated it to the canton, which set it up at its current location in 1927. So the figure has no relation to the location, but is pure «street furniture».
"Helvetia on the trip"
The sculpture Helvetia on the Journey by Bettina Eichin was created in 1980 on the occasion of a competition for the Basler Kunstkredit. It shows a woman who has put down her luggage and is now sitting on the wall at the Kleinbasler bridgehead and looking thoughtfully at the Rhine. The following text is written on a blackboard: “One day, Helvetia leaves a two-franc coin, mingles with the people and goes on a long journey. On the way she also comes to Basel. After a strenuous walk through the city, she takes off her coat, shield, spear and suitcase, rests on a pillar of the Middle Rhine Bridge and looks thoughtfully down the Rhine ... »
Bettina Eichin, who also always understood her art politically, said in an interview in 2010: “I wanted to turn the Helvetia allegory on our coins into a woman again, free her from the minting, let her get out - just like we women back then. Only very few people understood 30 years ago what I wanted to express with Helvetia. [...] She gets out of the minting of the coin, that is, of money, is on the way to rest tired, thoughtful and turned away on her pedestal - qualities that are not appreciated in women. She looks down the Rhine to chemistry and across borders. She has disarmed and put her symbols of sovereignty behind her, the suitcase is an indication of her 'being on the move', of a century of packing suitcases, escape and departure. "
"Deposit"
In 1992, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the unification of Greater and Small Basel, the three Kleinbasel honorary societies donated the sculpture Lagerstätte by artist Ludwig Stocker to the canton . It stands above the first pillar on the Kleinbasel side in the Rhine and shows the three characters Vogel Gryff , Wild Maa and Leu, which are lying next to each other on a catafalk . Depending on the water level, the sculpture is easily visible or not at all. The three honorary societies originally wanted a placement on Claraplatz or on the banks of the Rhine, but this was rejected by the canton. Finally, an agreement was reached on the place in the Rhine.
«Memorial plaque for the victims of the witch hunt»
On the initiative of Basta - Grand Councilor Brigitta Gerber , the memorial plaque for the victims of the witch hunt was inaugurated on March 22, 2019 . The bronze memorial plaque was made by the artist and sculptor Markus Böhmer. The memorial plaque is to be understood as rehabilitation in the symbolic sense. In addition to pictorial elements, the plaque adorns the following inscription : «Basel commemorates the people who were accused of witchcraft, persecuted, tortured and killed in earlier centuries. Today this is a place that exhorts us to meet other people without prejudice and not to marginalize them ».
shipping
The Middle Bridge is a challenge for large-scale shipping. Not only are the yokes very narrow, but the bridge also stands in a bend in the river, which also leads to difficult current conditions. A special patent is therefore required to be able to navigate this section of the Rhine. If the skipper does not have this patent, he must take a pilot on board for the journey through Basel .
Because of the low headroom, the wheelhouse has to be lowered on many ships to pass under. Also, container ships can only navigate this section of the Rhine with “two-tier” loads.
Incidents
MS «Birsigtal»
On July 4, 1958, the motor ship «MS Birsigtal» was loaded with coal on an uphill journey when it crossed in front of the Middle Bridge and was pressed against the piers by the current. According to the crew's statement, the vehicle got driftwood in the propeller, whereby the rudder surfaces were also severely bent so that the ship could no longer be steered. The crew was rescued by the tug «Strasbourg». The rescue work lasted until July 15th. The ship was repaired and continued to operate under the names MS Margeja , MS Gaea and most recently MS Jamaica .
SL "Corona"
On September 28, 1984, was pushed barge "SL Corona ', laden with 971 tons of alumina, pushed by the tugboat" Vogel Gryff »Rhine. The tug hit a pillar under the middle bridge, whereupon the push convoy got out of control. The barge struck across the bridge and was pressed against the piers by the current, the tug was able to detach from the formation in time and remained undamaged.
The recovery was difficult because the clearance height of the Middle Bridge is not enough for a large jack. But even a smaller 150-tonne lifting crane could only be brought into position after the Rhine level had dropped sufficiently. As a result, the passage to and from the ports of Birsfelden and Muttenz was blocked for 17 days.
The first attempt to lift the "Corona" with the lifting crane failed because it was too tightly wedged in the bridge piers. For this reason, a barge loaded with gravel was brought into position, connected to the «Corona» and then unloaded on site. With the help of this additional boost, the «Corona» was lifted on October 14th.
TMS «Roma»
On the morning of August 17, 2011, the tanker «TMS Roma» was unloaded on its descent when the engines failed above the Wettstein Bridge. The pilot managed to maneuver the ship under the middle bridge with the help of the bow thruster. However, since he was unable to lower the wheelhouse under these circumstances, it collided with the bridge and was dented. The pilot was able to throw himself to the ground and was uninjured. After passing the bridge, the anchor was thrown and the ship came to a standstill. The «Roma» was then towed by a tug to the Mattmüller company in Weil, where a makeshift wheelhouse was built.
MS "Camaro VI"
On July 18, 2019, the container ship “Camaro VI” first brushed the Mittlere Brücke and then crashed into the pillar of the Johanniterbrücke in front of thousands of eyewitnesses. Despite the many Rhine swimmers, there are no known injuries. In the case of the cargo ship, the main engine did not fail, as was initially assumed. Rather, the steering gear suffered a defect.
literature
- Theodor Landsberg : The competition for the construction of the middle Rhine bridge in Basel. In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 22, No. 17 (March 1, 1902), pp. 101–106 and No. 19 (March 8, 1902), pp. 117–119.
- Eugen Probst : The old Rhine bridge in Basel. In: Die Denkmalpflege , Volume 5, No. 7 (May 20, 1903), pp. 49–50.
- E. Gutzwiller: The new Basler Rheinbrücke , part 1: pages 1–6 , part 2: p. 15–19 , part 3: p. 46–51 , Schweizerische Bauzeitung, vol. 47, 1906
- Eugen A. Meier : 750 years of the Middle Rhine Bridge. In: Basler Stadtbuch 1975 , pp. 259–276.
- Guido Helmig: Building bridges in Basel. In: Basler Stadtbuch 1995 , pp. 217–222.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Horst Johannes Tümmers (1999): The Rhine: a European river and its history (p. 87)
- ^ Even before the Wettstein Bridge , from January to March 1857, the Dufour Bridge , a military pontoon bridge, connected the two banks of the Rhine for a short time . Although it was a military bridge, it was open to the public and used extensively. The railway bridge was also built in front of the Wettstein Bridge , but it was not open to general use, and it was located far outside the city at that time.
- ↑ After the great earthquake of 1356 , a large fire raged in Basel that lasted for several days and also destroyed the entire state archive. That is why there are only a few written sources about the time before 1356. The documents mentioned on the cost sharing of the monasteries of St. Blasien and Bürgeln were also not found in Basel, but in the monasteries.
- ↑ In addition, waterways were used for long-distance trade wherever possible, so that the Rhine bridge would not have given any significant advantage in this regard.
- ^ W. Meyer, contribution The Zähringisch-Episcopal dispute about Kleinbasel. In: Annual report 1980 of the archaeological soil research. Published in: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Volume 81, Basel, 1981.
- ↑ At that time, Christians were not allowed to lend money.
- ↑ a b "yoke" here means pillar. This old name comes from the fact that the pillars of wooden bridges used to have the shape of a yoke on which the roadway was then laid.
- ↑ http://www.altbasel.ch/wehrbauten/rheintor.html www.altbasel.ch
- ↑ Cf. Elisabetha Rink, Trudi Wenk: Life and Execution of Anna Hauswirth 1724–1759. In: Yearbook z'Rieche 1987 ( online )
- ↑ Cf. Jens Scholz, Peter Sefrin, Bernd W. Böttiger, Volker Dörges, Volker Wenzel: The emergence of modern emergency medicine. In: Emergency Medicine. Georg Thieme Verlag, 2012, p. 29.
- ↑ The last death sentence was carried out in Basel on August 4, 1819, when three men were beheaded. In 1872 the death penalty was abolished in Basel-Stadt .
- ↑ basler-bauten.ch
- ↑ Today the flow through the barrage of the Birsfelden and Kembs power stations is slowed down again.
- ↑ basler-bauten.ch
- ↑ The other two bridges were the Wettsteinbrücke upstream and the Johanniterbrücke downstream. At that time, the railway bridge was still far outside the city and was not counted.
- ↑ www.ralu.ch
- ↑ ivs.sylon.net ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Historic traffic routes in the canton of Basel-Stadt, p. 41
- ↑ www.altbasel.ch
- ↑ www.ralu.ch
- ↑ www.xecutives.net Interview with Bettina Eichin
- ↑ www.ralu.ch
- ↑ www.vogel-gryff.ch ( Memento of the original from May 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ [1] Käppelijoch: A memorial for the Basel "witches" bzbasel accessed on March 8, 2020
- ↑ Media release by the Presidential Department Administration of the Canton of Basel-Stadt ( March 22, 2019): Inauguration of the memorial plaque for the victims of the witch hunt , accessed on March 27, 2020.
- ↑ Markus Böhmer, stonemasons and sculptors workshop [2] Hexentafel, Mittlere Rheinbrücke, 2019, accessed on March 27, 2020.
- ^ In the journal of the Vereniging de Binnenvaart 2011/6, pp. 29–35, there is a report on the MS Birsigtal accident .
- ↑ Film on YouTube
- ↑ bazonline.ch Retrospective report in the Basler Zeitung of August 17, 2011
- ↑ bazonline.ch report in the Basler Zeitung from August 17, 2011
- ↑ Ship accident in Basel at Mittlerer Brücke and Johanniterbrücke ++ no evidence of injuries ++ it was the control - Basel Stadt - Basel - Grenchner Tagblatt. Retrieved November 13, 2019 .
Rhine bridges: Holzapfelweg at the Birsfelden power plant | Railway bridge | Black Forest Bridge | Wettstein Bridge | Middle bridge | Johanniterbrücke | Dreirosenbrücke
City bridges: Birskopfstegbrücke | Birsig Viaduct | Dorenbach Viaduct | Heuwaage Viaduct | Peter Merian Bridge
Former bridges: Dufour Bridge | St. Alban Bridge
|
The next bridge upstream: Wettsteinbrücke |
Bridges over the Rhine |
The next bridge downstream: Johanniterbrücke |