Podul Ștefan cel Mare (Timișoara)

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Northern bridgehead of the old wooden bridge from the 19th century, in the background the Gara de Nord
The predecessor of today's Podul Ștefan cel Mare
Looking towards the train station, after the construction of the Palais Gemeinhardt
Looking towards the center of Josefstadt
Detailed view of the arch construction

Podul Stefan cel Mare is the name of a bridge in the western Romanian city ​​of Timișoara . It is located in the fourth district of Iosefin ( German  Josefstadt ) and crosses the Bega there . As part of the Strada General Ion Dragalina, it establishes the connection between the center of Josefstadt and the Gara Timișoara Nord . The namesake was the Moldovan voivode Ștefan cel Mare .

History of origin

Wooden bridge

The old wooden bridge that led to the train station was already rotten in the 1880s and no longer able to cope with the demands. Therefore, in 1889 , the city ​​council decided to build a metal bridge . Such were already common at that time, the first metal bridges in the city were built in 1870 and 1871.

Steel bridge

In 1890 a public tender to replace the wooden bridge took place. The Reschitzaer Eisenbahngesellschaft under the direction of engineer Henrik Reiber was awarded the contract . The Reiber family had built a number of larger buildings in the city, the most important of which was the Dicasterial Palace . The construction of the bridge was delayed for bureaucratic reasons. In 1891 the steel bridge was finally completed. It had an opening of 30 meters, the carriageway was 5.60 meters wide and the two pedestrian paths each 1.50 meters.

With the introduction of the electric tram in 1899, the bridge had to be adapted to the new conditions. At that time it was expanded from five to seven arches.

Concrete bridge

In 1930 the steel bridge from the 19th century was to be demolished due to signs of fatigue. For this reason, the dilapidated bridge had to be closed to private traffic as early as 1939, even though the tram continued to cross the bridge. The engineer Ioan Poland drew up a new building plan in 1940, but the project came to a standstill for the time being because of the Second World War . The old bridge was only demolished in 1956 and then replaced by today's concrete bridge until 1958, when the tram traffic was interrupted . The metal parts have been melted down so that nothing is left of the old bridge.

Name of the bridge

At the time of the Kingdom of Hungary , the bridge was initially called Horgony híd , Romanian Podul Ancora de Aur , German  bridge to the golden anchor . It was named after a restaurant in the immediate vicinity, the Golden Anchor . After Timișoara fell to Romania in 1919, it was finally given its current name. A colloquial name is Podul de la Gară , German  station bridge .

Legend

In the 1970s, journalists spread the rumor that the old steel bridge was built from a drawing by Gustave Eiffel , the builder of the Paris Eiffel Tower . However, this has not been confirmed after inspection of the construction plans.

See also

literature

  • Árpád Jancsó: Istoricul podurilor din Timișoara. Editura Mirton, Timișoara 2001, ISBN 973-585-545-3 .
  • Else von Schuster: A tour of Timisoara. = O plimbare prin Timişoara. 3. Edition. ADZ, Bucureşti 2001.
  • Timisoara - Timisoara. A Southeast European city in a changing era. Hometown community Timisoara, Heidenheim 1994.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Regia Autonomă de Transport Timișoara, 130 de ani de activitate, 1869–1999, monograph. Timișoara 1999. Pages 69 and 101

Coordinates: 45 ° 44 ′ 50.5 ″  N , 21 ° 12 ′ 34.9 ″  E