page_title: Alte Brücke (Frankfurt)
section_title: 15th – 18th century
hierarchical_section_title: Alte Brücke (Frankfurt) / History / 15th – 18th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Frankfurt on the Main: detail of Merian's plan with the Alte Bruecke (old bridge) and the Dreikoenigskirche (church of the three magi) Deutsch: Frankfurt am Main: Ausschnitt des Merian-Plans mit der Alten Brücke und der Dreikönigskirche
context_page_description: Alte Brücke is a bridge in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is the oldest bridge over the lower course of the river Main, and until 1886 it was the only stone bridge crossing the river. From the Middle Ages until the year 1914, it connected the "Fahrgasse" in Frankfurt Altstadt with the "Brückenstraße" in Sachsenhausen. Since its first mention in official documents in 1222, the development of Frankfurt has been strongly influenced by the bridge. Over the centuries, Alte Brücke has been destroyed and reconstructed at least 18 times. With its 13 brick-built circular arches, the Sachsenhausen Bridge was one of the most prominent buildings of the city, but failing to meet the increasing demands of the modern road and ship traffic, it was demolished in 1914.
  The current Alte Brücke, sometimes called "Neue Alte Brücke", was inaugurated on 15 August 1926 by then-Lord-Mayor Ludwig Landmann. Two of its originally eight red sandstone-lined vaults were blown up by German soldiers on 26 March 1945. After an initial provisional reconstruction, the middle part of the bridge was replaced by a steel through truss bridge and placed in operation again on 15 September 1965.
context_section_description: In the beginning of the 15th century, 10 of the 13 bridge arches as well as the two bridge towers were fundamentally renovated. The accountable architect might have been Madern Gerthener, who personally vouched for the safety of the vaults and arches in front of the (city?) council on 30 November 1399. On a hiking trip in Prague, Gerthener learned about the Charles Bridge, which had been built shortly before by Peter Parler. The oldest depiction of this bridge comes from 1405: It is shown in stylized form in the "Bedebuch" (burnt in World War II), with the two towers, three arches and the crucifix of the Brickegickel. The oldest complete drawing can be found in the Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster, as a part of the birds-eye view of Frankfurt, in the second issue from 1550. It is a woodcut which itself is dated 1545. Shortly thereafter, in 1552, another depiction appeared on the so-called "Belagerungsplan" (besiegement plan) of Conrad Faber von Creuznach, who had already sketched the bridge in the background of his double portrait of Anna and Gilbrecht von Holzhausen in 1535. It shows the bridge during the three-week besiegement of the Protestant city by an army of the Protestant prince, under lead of the Prince-elector Maurice, Elector of Saxony in the summer of 1552, when it was defended by the Imperial Army. During this time, the bridge had been covered by cloths, and the Main had been rendered impassable by sunken ships and an iron chain. The besiegement started on 17 July and ended with the conclusion of the Peace of Passau contract on 2 August. For the city, the loyalty to the imperator paid off well: Beginning with 1562, all coronations of the Holy Roman Emperor took place in Frankfurt.
  In the early 17th century, the last wooden pillar of the bridge, located north of the bridge mill, was replaced by a stone equivalent. However, the ceiling of the bridge still consisted of wooden bars which could be removed quickly to prevent passing of the bridge.
  The bridge had a width of 31 feet (about 9 m), including the bridge parapet made of stone, which had been one foot wide each. The highest arch, when the water level was at a normal state, was about 30 feet (8.50 m) above the water; the other arches had been 2–3 feet lower in comparison. The horizontal clearance below the bridge, between two arches, had been between 7.50 m and 9 m. The street on top of the bridge was only about 4.70 m wide, just enough to allow passing of two vehicles next to each other. The footpaths had been so small that they had to be declared one-way paths: pedestrians had to take the path on the right side, relative to their walking direction.
  In the Thirty Years' War, as well, the bridge had been the stage of a shooting war. In August 1635, imperial troops attacked Swedes who had occupied Sachsenhausen and entrenched themselves in the bridge mill as well as in the Sachsenhausen bridge tower. During the fight, the bridge mill caught fire. It was later replaced by two new buildings.
  At the end of the 17th, and at the beginning of the 18th century, the material condition of the bridge became increasingly worse over time. Again and again, floods and melted ice hit the bridge and damaged it, and repair attempts did not completely fix the problems. In 1739, the council mandated that the bridge must not be burdened with more than 50 hundredweight at a time. This measure did not prevent a collapse of the bridge's cross arch on 16 December 1739, which also caused the Brickegickel to be lost. The two adjacent arches, the "Flößerbogen" and the "Ausschüttbogen", used to toss garbage into the Main, have also been severely damaged.
  The council then decided to completely rebuild the bridge. The construction was to be managed by Johann Friedrich von Uffenbach. Firstly, a temporary wooden bridge was created, which stood in good stead during the coronation of emperor Charles VII. The foundation for the new stone bridge was laid on 18 September 1741; the keystone was set on 14 September 1744. In 1748, the bridge was paved; afterwards, it received a representative sa
caption: The Frankfurt Bridge on the Merian plan of 1628
exif: {}