Woog Bridge (Worms)

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Woog Bridge in Worms

The Woogbrücke in Worms is a historic bridge structure from the 17th century, which was discovered by chance during road construction work in 2009 and was subsequently partially exposed.

Period of discovery

When the road surface was broken up on April 27, 2009 during the expansion of a traffic junction on the Rheintorplatz road to the B 47 , a sewer from the 19th century came to light. Because it was not possible to determine with certainty whether the discovered canal had any historical significance, work was continued with great caution. A short time later, a building made of massive sandstone blocks was found under the canal, whose historical function was initially not recognized.

Historical meaning

Since old city views show that a bastion should have stood at this point , the road construction work was stopped. As a result, monument preservation workers uncovered parts of the foundation of the bastion, and a bridge came to light that historically crossed the Woog , which existed until the 19th century and was at times defining the cityscape, as the bridge, viewed from the Rhine , was the only access to the city.

The Woog in Worms was a largely stagnant body of water in front of the eastern Worms city wall. It was fed by the Maria-Münster-Bach which lay south of the Woog. To the north of the Woogbrücke, the Woog merged with the historic Stadtbach , where it flows into the Gießen and into the Rhine in the north of the city.

As a structure before the city was destroyed in 1689 as part of the Palatinate War of Succession , the remains of the bridge represent an extraordinary historical value for the history of Worms.

In the further course of the research it turned out that the Woog Bridge must have been noticed as early as the end of the 19th century, as the sewer that was built in this period and running directly over it made it necessary to partially demolish the bridge. Obviously, the historic building was not classified as particularly valuable at the time and was then completely forgotten.

Information point above the Woogbrücke

Follow the discovery

Initially, the expansion of the traffic junction was completely stopped because it was not clear how to deal with the find. After everything was photographed and documented, there were considerations, to fill up the find again and to continue with the originally planned construction work. However, since the Worms city council classified the Woog bridge as an extremely important historical building, the preservation of which must be guaranteed, it was decided to include the Woog bridge in the planning of the traffic junction. The planning was redesigned, the historical structure was consolidated, the space around the site was completely redeveloped. A set of stairs leads visitors down to the site of the find, which is provided with information boards showing the find with pictures and texts. A gravel bed, which is intended to mark the former river bed of the Woog, lines the lower area of ​​the publicly accessible area immediately in front of the Woog bridge. The foundation of the bridge is closed by a grid. In the upper area of ​​the square there is an information column, which is intended to inform the passing traffic of the historical find.

More discoveries

In May, July and August of 2009, during the road construction work, further arches of the former Woog Bridge were discovered, some of which were reused sandstone spolias from the early Middle Ages. For example, sandstones were discovered in the buildings that date from the Renaissance and originally served as window frames. A total of four arches were discovered, but the following three were only documented, photographed and then well packaged and filled up again. Only the first arch of the bridge was prepared and made accessible to the public and tourism. The road construction work was completely completed in 2010.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Information board at the Woogbrücke
  2. ↑ Woogbrücke - unique bridge find in Worms> City of Worms. In: worms.de. Retrieved July 19, 2015 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 37'53.2 "  N , 8 ° 22'9.1"  E