Untermhäuser bridge
The Untermhäuser Bridge is a historic pedestrian bridge over the Weisse Elster in Gera . It connects the historic center of the Untermhaus district on the western bank of the river with the kitchen garden avenue and orangery and is thus part of the historical axis from Untermhaus to the city center. Together with the neighboring Alt-Untermhäuser building ensemble around the Marienkirche , it forms a well-known Gera cityscape.
history
At the point of a footbridge over the Elster, Count Heinrich XVIII. von Reuß-Gera build the first bridge for heavy carts in 1705. Badly damaged by floods and ice, it had to be replaced four times by new buildings in the 18th century. In 1863, today's steel truss bridge, created by the Gera iron foundry Moritz Jahr, was built directly above the previous bridge. In honor of the wife of Prince Heinrich LXVII. Reuss , Princess Sophie Adelheid Henriette Reuss-Ebersdorf, she was given the name Adelheidbrücke . In 1934 major repairs took place. In 1950 it was renamed Elsterbrücke and finally in 1962 Untermhäuser Brücke .
In order to relieve the more than 100 year old steel structure, the bridge is now closed to motor vehicles. In 1998/99 the paved bridge pavement was removed in a comprehensive renovation and replaced with wooden planks.
For the 2007 Federal Horticultural Show , the bridge had to be divided lengthways, as a second Elster crossing, originally planned immediately to the south, could no longer be realized for time and financial reasons. On the south side, visitors to the garden show could now get from the main exhibition area of the Hofwiesenpark to the exhibition areas on the left of the Elster, while the north side was outside the BUGA site and could therefore continue to be used by normal pedestrian traffic. In the first weeks of the garden show, the bridge was divided by a temporary construction fence, which was then replaced by a solid metal fence.
On May 19, 2008, the bridge on the south side was damaged by arson. In the course of the subsequent repair measures, after the removal of the burned planks of the bridge deck, severe rot damage was discovered on the wooden longitudinal beams, which could be traced back to construction defects during the renovation in 1998/99.
Individual evidence
- ^ Uwe Müller: Brücke fault , Ostthüringer Zeitung , June 5, 2008.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 56.2 " N , 12 ° 3 ′ 55.2" E