page_title: King Alexander Bridge
section_title: Building
hierarchical_section_title: King Alexander Bridge / Construction / Building
caption_attribution_description: Српски / srpski: Most kralja Aleksandra, gradnja započeta 1930, otvoren 1934, srušen 1941 u aprilskom bombardovanju
context_page_description: King Alexander Bridge, in full The Bridge of King Alexander Karađorđević or The Bridge of the Knightly King Alexander, was a road and tram bridge over the Sava river, in Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia. It was the first permanent road bridge across the Sava in Belgrade after almost 250 years and the Long Bridge from 1688. Finished in 1934, it was damaged and out of use since 1941, and fully demolished in 1944, during World War II. Its pylons were later used for the modern Branko's Bridge, built in 1956. The bridge was revered while existed being described as "gorgeous" and "one of the most important object ever built in Belgrade".
context_section_description: Construction began in July 1930 and was built by a joint venture of the German Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH), executing the steel works, and the French company Société de Construction des Batignolles, excuting all other works. The total length of the bridge was 474.7 m (1,557 ft), or in the sections, from the Zemun side, 7.7 + 75 + 261 + 75 + 9 + 47 m (25 + 246 + 856 + 246 + 30 + 154 ft). The main construction of the bridge spawned over 411 m (1,348 ft) across the river, with the main span being 261 m (856 ft) long. 
  The bridge was modeled after the Mülheim Bridge over the Rhine, in Cologne, Germany. The third "twin", based on almost the same project was built in Vienna, Austria, crossing the Danube. The second incarnation of the Reichsbrücke collapsed due to the structural failure on 1 August 1976.
  The joining of the last parts of the iron construction was finished in November 1933 and it took another year to finish the access roads. A sandy beach with the cabins, kafanas and barracks, used as sheds by the fishermen, occupied the area where the access ramp was to be built on the left, Zemun's side. It was one of the favorite vacation spots of Belgraders, occupying the left bank of the Sava, north of the future bridge, in the modern Ušće neighborhood. People were transported from the city by small boats and the starting point was a small kafana "Malo pristanište" in Savamala. The objects were demolished manually, including numerous kafanas: "Ostend", "Zdravlje", "Abadžija", "Jadran", "Krf", "Dubrovnik", "Adrija", etc. The only one that wasn't demolished was "Nica", predecessor of the modern Ušće restaurant. In total, 20 proper objects and 2,000 cabins, barracks, sheds, etc. were demolished, jointly by the municipalities of Zemun and Bežanija, which owned half of the land each, and the proprietors of the objects. The plan was to build an embankment instead. However, the beach itself survived the construction of the bridge in 1934 as it only made access easier. The beach was finally closed in 1938 when the construction of the embankment began. The beach itself was called Nica (Serbian for Nice, in France) after one of the kafanas. 
  The supporting pylon on the right bank was built on the ruins of the former mosque, Liman Mosque. The remnants had to be removed first and this was the source of the popular myth after the demolition, that the bridge was cursed.
  Head of the project was Swiss-educated engineer Mirko Roš.
caption: Construction of the bridge
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