Grunwaldzki Bridge

The Grunwaldzki Bridge is the only road-tram hanging bridge in Poland. In 1905 the contest for a project of this bridge was announced. The impediment was the low shore of the river and the demanded height of vertical extreme shipping – 3,28m. The projects that were sent to the contest included only the arch and wall construction. The first prize was given to the project by R. Weyrauch and M. Mayer and this project was carried out . The Grunwaldzi Bridge went down in history of the world bridges due to usage of original construction solutions. It’s the only bridge in the world that hangs on the air carrier that are made from arranged on a flate plates and it’s got the original way of hanging to it with the stiffening beam hangers supporting the bridge. The hanging bridge for the demanded, a relatively small span of 112,5m in light, was not economical but they made such a decision because the bridge had the character of monumental work and its small construction didn’t cover the view of Ostrów Tumski.

The construction of the bridge started in February 1908 and finished in November 1910 with the opening ceremony which the emperor Wilhelm II took part in. At the beginning the bridge was called “the emperor bridge”, later “freedom bridge”. To construction of the bridge used 1976 tons of confluent iron, 289,5 tons of confluent steel, 4,1 tons of lead and 1,4 tons of copper and 7160 m³ of concrete. The bridge was made by Beuchelt Company from Zielona Góra. The construction was significantly affected during the warfare in 1945. The band carriers, bridges and pylons were destroyed. The damage could be even greater if the bridge fell down into river. It settled on four sunken barges and it could be used for military convoys and for pedestrian. The bridge was rebuilt in 1946-47. In 1976 it was entered in the register of historic monuments. During the war the bridge was used as a pass-through.