Pöppelmann Bridge (Grimma)
Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 18 ″ N , 12 ° 44 ′ 1 ″ E
| Pöppelmann Bridge | ||
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| use | Pedestrian and bicycle traffic | |
| Subjugated | United Mulde , km 79.550 | |
| place | Grimma | |
| overall length | 143 m | |
| width | 7.3 m | |
| Number of openings | 5 | |
| Longest span | 71 m | |
| Clear width | 65 m | |
| location | ||
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The Pöppelmann Bridge spans the Mulde River in Grimma . The bridge bears the name of its original planner, the well-known Baroque architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann , and is used for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The listed building from 1719 originally had six basket arches , four of which have been preserved since the August floods in 2002 . The middle section of the bridge with two collapsed arches and the destroyed main opening has consisted of a tubular steel truss bridge since 2012 .
history
In the late Middle Ages there was a ford through the Mulde near Grimma in the course of the old trade route Hohe Landstrasse, which ran from Poland via Silesia, Lusatia and Mark Meißen via Leipzig, through Thuringia to Frankfurt am Main. A first solid basin crossing above Grimma is documented for the year 1292. The second wooden bridge was built at the beginning of the 14th century at the location of today's bridge, a narrow point in the river bed. During the Schmalkaldic War , the building was burned down in the spring of 1547 on the orders of Duke Moritz von Sachsen . In 1548 the third bridge was built, which was again made of wood, but already had massive pillars in the bank area. In 1637, during the Thirty Years' War, Swedish troops set the bridge on fire.
After the city of Grimma had given up all rights to the bridge in 1700 due to a lack of financial resources, Elector August the Strong had a new bridge built for the express mail line Dresden-Leipzig according to a design and under the direction of the chief architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann. The foundation stone was laid on July 1, 1716, and the building, which cost 20,000 thalers, was put into operation in January 1719. The bridge was decorated with a baroque coat of arms. It consists of a crown and coat of arms in the upper part and an inscription in the lower part: “For eternity - under the rule and at the expense of Friedrich August, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, the benevolent prince and incomparable father of the country, this proud building is In place of a bridge that was destroyed in 1637, it has been built from stone blocks since 1716, as a monument to royal and electoral grace. ” A bridge toll was introduced in 1725 for refinancing.
In 1813, while fighting against Napoleon, the Cossacks destroyed the wooden house bridge in a fire while retreating. Three years later a new house bridge was built. In 1894 a major renovation of the Pöppelmann Bridge followed. The usable width was increased by demolishing the massive parapets and replacing them with an iron railing, and the wooden house bridge was replaced by a steel lattice girder with a parabolic curved top chord and a roadway below. Pulpits were also erected on the wider pillars.
On April 15, 1945, the Wehrmacht blew up the steel part of the bridge. Subsequently, a suspension bridge for pedestrians spanned the central opening until a makeshift superstructure consisting of two parallel-belted lattice girders with double wooden planking was installed in 1947. From July 4, 1972, a steel construction with an overhead sheet steel deck and mastic asphalt covering replaced the temporary bridge, which was made up of various steel scraps.
After the commissioning of a second Mulde bridge for road traffic in the city of Grimma in 1996, an extensive overhaul of the Pöppelmann Bridge began in 1999. Among other things, due to considerable damage, the central section, the steel truss bridge, was replaced by a slender reinforced concrete framework and the natural stone arches reinforced with lightweight concrete . On the occasion of the 800th anniversary of Grimmas, the re-commissioning of the listed building as a pedestrian bridge followed on September 13, 2000. Two years later, the August flood on August 13, 2002 caused the bridge to collapse partially. Blockages in front of the flooded bridge led to a backwater of the water and, due to the high flow speed of the dammed water masses, to the bottom of the water being washed out, which led to the sinking of the undermined bridge piers and thus to the partial collapse of the structure.
On August 20, 2012, the bridge was reopened after almost three years of construction. The reconstruction had cost 6.4 million euros. To improve flood protection , only one of the three destroyed historical arches on the right bank was rebuilt. A light truss arch in steel construction spans the main opening, which is now roughly twice as large, two of the pillars destroyed by the washout were removed and not restored.
During the flood of 2013 , the bridge structure was again loaded with flood runoff with a return interval between 100 and 200 years on June 3, 2013, slightly lower than in 2002. The middle section of the bridge was dammed under the bridge slab, the stone edges of the bridge were flooded. The new construction did not result in blockages and withstood the flow pressure; the build-up on the partially flooded structure was significantly reduced compared to 2002.
construction
Structure from 1719
The bridge from 1719 was about 140 m long and 5.8 m wide. The construction consisted of two rows of brick arches, one with two openings on the left and one with four openings on the right side of the trough. In between there was an approximately 30 m wide field with a wooden house bridge with a hanging truss as a supporting structure. With clear widths of 10.95 m to 14.10 m, the six basket arches had an arch stitch of 1/3 of the clear width. Red Rochlitz porphyry tuff was used to build the arches and pillars . After the renovation in 1894, the bridge had a 5.0 m wide carriageway and walkways 1.2 m wide on both sides.
Construction from 2012
The 143 m long bridge from 2012 has two arches on both sides with spans of 19.43 and 20.4 m as well as 16.47 and 15.7 m. The main opening, expanded to 70 meters, is spanned by two high steel truss arches, which are arranged outside the bridge deck, with a span of 71.0 m. The pillars on which the arch rests have a pile foundation. The design of the bridge primarily followed the requirements of future flood protection, but also the preservation of the historical cityscape. The remaining parts of the bridge were supposed to be included in the new building in accordance with the historic monuments, but at the same time the hydraulic capacity of the bridge for a 100-year flood discharge was to be given. Several variants of the bridge construction were examined and the hydraulically most favorable variant was selected. To restore the symmetry of the building, a bridge pillar and a bridge vault based on the historical structure were restored. Two pillars were given a new pile foundation up to 24 meters deep in the rocky subsoil.
literature
- Hans-Dieter Pfeiffer, Joachim Schmiedel: Grimma Mulde Bridge (Pöppelmann Bridge). In: Stone bridges in Germany. Verlag Bau + Technik, 1999, ISBN 3-7640-0389-8 , pp. 237–241.
- Olaf Wingeß, Frank Bernhardt: Partial new construction of the Pöppelmann Bridge in Grimma. In: Bridge Construction. 2012/04, pp. 22-27. (Alternative link) (PDF; 6.6 MB)
- Rudolf Priemer : Grimma's Bridge of Destiny turns 300 (full-page article about the Pöppelmann Bridge). Leipziger Volkszeitung , Muldental edition, p. 31 (“Topic of the day”), January 19, 2019
