Weidendammer Bridge
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 20 ″ N , 13 ° 23 ′ 17 ″ E
| Weidendammer Bridge | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| use | Road traffic | |
| Convicted | Friedrichstrasse | |
| Crossing of | Spree | |
| place | Berlin | |
| overall length | 73 m | |
| width | 22.5 m, of which 12.4 m is lane width | |
| Longest span | 38.5 m | |
| Clear height | 5.25 m | |
| vehicles per day | 360 trucks 12,500 vehicles |
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| start of building | 1894 | |
| completion | 1899/1924 | |
| opening | 17th September 1896 | |
| location | ||
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The Weidendammer Bridge in Berlin 's Mitte district crosses Friedrichstrasse over the Spree . It goes back to an original building in the same place from the 17th century, today's bridge marks the third oldest bridge in the area of the old Berlin city center. The bridge, located at a central point in the city, also played a role in literature several times . Today's bridge construction has been a listed building since the 1970s .
Building history
1685-1824
In 1685 the Neustädtische Brücke , also called Dorotheenstädtische Brücke or Spandauische Brücke , was built as a wooden drawbridge . It led the then Querstraße (today's Friedrichstraße) from the city of Berlin over the Spree to the Spandau suburb and thus connected the two lands of Electress Dorothea . Berlin Neustadt was now easily accessible from the north and the two French colonies (the Huguenots ) were linked directly. At the beginning of the 18th century, the bridge was named Weidendammer Bridge after the nearby willow-planted dam on the banks of the Spree. In the period from around 1932 to 1959, the bridge was called Weidendammbrücke in official maps . In the 200 years of its existence, the wooden bridge often had to be repaired and partially renewed, so that when the city was first expanded at the beginning of the 19th century, a new building was planned.
1824-1895
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The structural development of the area north of this bridge under the name Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt led to the construction of the Marschallbrücke and the Ebertbrücke from 1820 . The Weidendammer Bridge had to be redesigned as a high-performance transport link and made of more durable material. The new five-arched, iron Weidendammer bridge planned by the chief building officer August Adolph Günther was built between 1824 and 1826 as one of the first cast iron bridges in Central Europe. Their components were cast in the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry in Gleiwitz in Upper Silesia and transported to Berlin by ship. While pedestrians and horse-drawn carts initially shared the ten-meter-wide bridge, in busy Berlin during the imperial era, neither the lane width nor the load-bearing capacity of the bridge met the increased requirements. In 1880 pedestrian walkways made of wood and steel girders were added on both outer sides. In the 1890s, a temporary bridge built directly next to the actual Weidendammer bridge ensured that the horse-drawn tram crossed the Spree . A new building was urgently needed.
Since 1896
In 1892, the Berlin Architects' Association launched a competition for designs for the new construction of the Weidendammer Bridge, and the jury selected the design submitted by Otto Stahn . It was a three-span deck bridge with continuous girders in a framework construction. The spans were set at 16.3 meters, 38.5 meters and 15.5 meters. With a width of 22.5 meters, the bridge was laid out more generously than the width of Friedrichstrasse at the time required.
Construction began in 1894 when a temporary wooden bridge was first placed downstream in the river bed. The old bridge construction was dismantled in the spring of 1895 and resold in individual parts . In 1896 the new bridge structure with elaborate decorative elements was completed and put into operation.
In connection with the tunneling of the subway, the steel superstructure was dismantled in 1914 so that the pillars and abutments could be adapted to the new requirements. After material tests, some measures were taken to reinforce the construction for the reconstruction - the replacement of the steel lattice girders with solid wall girders is clearly visible on historical images. In addition, the bridge was widened due to the increased volume of traffic. Despite these interventions, which actually amounted to a new building, the characteristic shape of the bridge was retained. Due to the First World War and the inflationary years, the reconstruction then lasted until December 19, 1923. During the nine-year construction period, traffic was diverted over an emergency bridge down the Spree, which was probably the previous temporary tram bridge. This was removed in 1924 and some parts were resold again.
During the Second World War , the Weidendammer Bridge was spared blasting, so that it could continue to be used without serious damage. In 1974/1975 and 1985, the East Berlin city administration carried out extensive repair work, for which larger elements were temporarily removed and revised in workshops. From 1992 to 1994 an extensive renovation took place during which, among other things, defective seals, corrosion and road damage were removed. The bridge was closed for this and the Ebertbrücke was rebuilt as a temporary measure to offer a short detour.
Others
On April 19, 2006, a Polish pushboat rammed the Weidendammer Bridge because the captain had underestimated the strong current. No one was harmed, but the deck superstructure of the ship was destroyed. Experts found no damage to the Spree bridge.
Bridge jewelry
The bridge, built from 1894–1896 based on a design by Otto Stahn, also fulfilled the representative function already specified in the competition:
"A decoratively designed wrought-iron bridge railing is intended to give the bridge, in conjunction with the foreheads of the river pillars, also forged iron candelabra, the richer architectural design appropriate to its location."
It carried railings made of wrought iron ornamental grilles, which show imperial eagles on both sides in the middle of the bridge . Above the bridge piers were candelabra in the form of slender lattice masts with fabulous masks and gilded stylized suns at the top. The mast posts were adorned with eagles spreading their wings. Instead of the bird's belly there was a coat of arms cartouche , including the inscription ERBAUT 1895-1896 . A gilded lettering Weidendammer Bruecke was affixed to the railing, in the areas fable heads, fish and floral ornaments. The jewelry elements were made in the foundries and blacksmiths of M. Fabian, Eduard Puls, Ferd. Paul Krüger and H. Langer & Methling.
After the renovation in the 1920s, some decorative elements could not be reattached. In 1972 the then VEB Kunstschmiede Weißensee undertook the first renovation of the bridge jewelry. During the complete renovation of the entire bridge after 1990, all parts were reconstructed according to historical templates. The work was carried out by Fittkau Metallbau und Kunstschmiede , which is the successor company to the Weißensee art forge.
Traveling a bridge
The cast iron constructions from 1824 and parts of the temporary bridge from 1914 were sold in the north of Berlin and implemented several times with a few changes.
The municipality of Liepe bei Oderberg bought parts of the first iron bridge and used it to build a bridge over the Finow Canal . It was probably only a matter of the pedestrian bridges and the two late classical railings. In the course of an expansion of the canal, however, it was replaced by a new building in 1910–1912, which was destroyed in World War II.
The remains of the old Weidendammer Bridge came to Finow (today: Eberswalde ) in 1913 . The inner three arches were used as a towpath bridge over the port of the brass works near Heegermühle . The bridge railings were replaced by a simple construction. Now known as the "Devil's Bridge", it was due to be demolished in the mid-1980s due to its dilapidation. This could be prevented by attentive citizens. It was placed under monument protection and poorly structurally secured.
On the makeshift bridge from 1914, the Luchchaussee crosses the Rhin between Flatow and Wustrau , which was built in the course of the clearing of the Rhinluchs .
Bridge in Liepe 1908
Devil's Bridge on the Finow Canal
The bridge in literature
- Pünktchen and Anton by Erich Kästner : A key scene is described in Chapter 6 and Chapter 12; “Pünktchen”, the little girl from a rich family, begs in torn clothes on the Weidendammer Bridge (in the middle of the entertainment district of the 1920s) and sells matches; across the street, her friend Anton sells shoelaces.
- Prussian Icarus - Wolf Biermann , who lived nearby, connects the eagle in the bridge railing with his life. A photo taken on the bridge in the mid-1970s shows Biermann how those eagle wings grow out of his shoulders; it is also reproduced on the cover of the 1978 volume of poems of the same name. At the time of recording, however, the imperial crown had not yet been reattached, so Biermann mistook the imperial imperial eagle for the Prussian eagle .
- Theodor Fontane became engaged to Emilie Rouanet-Kummer on December 8, 1845 .
- In Arno Holz's poem Großstadtmorgen (1886), the lyrical self meets a beggar on the bridge who sells matches.
Stamp
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In 1985 the Ministry for Post and Telecommunications of the GDR published a series of “Berlin Bridges”, the 35-Pfennig value of which shows a side view of the Weidendammer Bridge.
At the willow dam
The eponymous street is located directly on the south bank of the Spree next to the Weidendammer bridge. It received its name on January 5, 1839, after it was laid on the bank fortification of the same name. Since 1730 the bank at this point consisted of the ruins of the tower of the Petrikirche and building rubble from the area. Willows were chosen as artificial planting, but they had to give way to the road in the 19th century.
literature
- Eckhard Thiemann, Dieter Deszyk, Horstpeter Metzing: Berlin and its bridges. Jaron Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89773-073-1 , pp. 70-73.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- Weidendammer Bridge. In: Structurae
- Series of images about the Weidendammer Bridge over the past century
- Weidendammer Bridge at in-berlin-brandenburg.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Traffic volumes for trucks in 2014 . (PDF) 2014 road traffic census as of October 16, 2015
- ↑ Cars in 24 hours. Traffic volume map DTV 2014
- ↑ Eberhard Heinze, Eckhard Thiemann, Laurenz Demps : Berlin and its bridges. Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00105-1 , p. 221 f.
- ^ Wilhelm Mila: Berlin or history of the origin of the gradual development and the current state of this capital. Nicolaische Buchhandlung, Berlin / Stettin 1829, p. 467 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- ↑ HistoMapBerlin
- ^ Franz Hermann Kiefer, MA: Schinkel and the industrialization of Prussia. (PDF) In: Inaugural dissertation for obtaining a doctorate from the Department of German and Art Studies at the Philipps University of Marburg, p. 126. August 31, 2004, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
- ↑ England's cast iron arched truss bridges. In: Friedrich Heinzerling: The bridges in iron . Verlag von Otto Spamer, Leipzig 1870, p. 100 ( full text in Google Book Search).
- ^ Weidendammer Bridge in Berlin. In: Kunst- und Gewerbe-Blatt , Volume 12, Munich 1826, Sp. 700 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- ↑ August F. Triest: Handbook for calculating the construction costs for all objects of urban and rural architecture. Volume 12, pp. 23-26 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- ^ Gerhard Mehlhorn, Masaaki Hoshino: Bridge building on the way from ancient times to modern bridge building. In: Gerhard Mehlhorn (Ed.): Handbook bridges. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-29659-1 , p. 55.
- ↑ Push boat rams Weidendammer Bridge in the Mitte district . In: Berliner Morgenpost , April 21, 2006, accessed on April 4, 2009
- ↑ Berlin and its bridges, ..., p. 72
- ↑ Information behind the inventory labels on the lamp posts. - Dieter Breitenborn: The bridge on the Weidendamm. (in a picture contribution of the BZ in the evening from approx. 1983)
- ↑ picture coat of arms eagle at the Weidendammer bridge with text to 1972
- ^ Reference list of the Fittkau company. Retrieved February 19, 2013
- ^ Wolfgang Bauer: Fontane's engagement bridge . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 3, 1999, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 26–31 ( luise-berlin.de ).