This is the Ludwigsbrücke in Bamberg, today it’s actually two bridges, one for cars, one for pedestrians.

The pedestrian bridge.

The bridge for motorised traffic.

I cheated a bit with the square rule and divided that sculpture / plaque into two squares. The text reads like follows:

Seesbrücke (wooden bridge) built 1752
destroyed 1784
Kettenbrücke (chain / suspension bridge) built 1829
dismantled 1891
Bogenbrücke (arched bridge) built 1892
blown up 1945
Spannbetonbrücke (reinforced concrete bridge) built 1950
dismantled 2009
Kettenbrücke (chain / suspension bridge) built 2010

When researching a bit I found out that these are not all the bridges that have crossed the river Regnitz at this point. The first one documented was the sespruck in 1312, a wooden structure that needed repairing and renewing as an ongoing process. Why it was called sespruck is not known. The first stone bridge was built during the Baroque era. It was destroyed (as were many other bridges) in the severe winter of 1794 when ice floating down the river hit it and killed a number of people as well as destroyed several houses on the banks. The next bridge was another wooden one, from 1809, not mentioned in the inscription. It was dismantled only 20 years later because the wood had started rotting. The 1829 construction was cast iron. This proved to be too flimsy and so was replaced by a steel construction which was blown up during the last days of the second world war to halt the advance of the US troops. The bridge built in the 50s was not able to carry the ever increasing traffic and the – up to now – final version is two bridges, one for pedestrians and one for cars.

Square #27 in May: Renew

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