The Empress Elisabeth Bridge () was a

chain bridge A chain bridge is a historic form of suspension bridge for which chains or eyebars were used instead of wire ropes to carry the bridge deck. A famous example is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest. Construction types are, as for other suspensi ...

that spanned the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

between Tetschen (now Děčín) on the east bank with Bodenbach in northern

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. It was opened in 1855, named after

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and List of Hungarian consorts, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austri ...

, and connected Tetschen to the major railroad from

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

to Prague. The bridge was demolished in the early 1930s, but its piers were used for the modern bridge replacing it.

History

When a railway line was opened connecting Dresden and Prague on the west bank of the

in 1851, it became commercially vital for Tetschen on the east bank of the river to be connected to the station in Bodenbach. Local entrepreneurs, textile manufacturer

Johann Münzberg Johann Münzberg (3 August 1799 – 1 September 1878) was an industrialist in Austrian-era Bohemia. His textile factories, Textilwerke Johann Münzberg & Co., were at the time leading companies in Bohemia. He was also influential in the building ...

, and Count Franz Anton von Thun, promoted the building of a bridge. They founded a stock company, and Thun provided a section of his garden for the bridge head. The bridge was built from 1853 to 1855, by Firma Schertz from

Pirna Pirna (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a ''Große ...

using designs by Werner, an engineer who modified the original design of Josef Schnirch. When it was opened in 1855, it was the only

over the Elbe. It had a length of and was wide. It was named after Elisabeth of Austria, who had become Empress on her marriage to

Emperor Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

in 1854. The bridge was regarded as one of the greatest and most beautiful bridges in Bohemia, and was favorably compared to the

Széchenyi Chain Bridge The Széchenyi Chain Bridge ( ) is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish e ...

in Budapest. On 8 July 1915, a fire on the bridge damaged the timber planks of the construction. The bridge could not be used but was restored to service after many months. On 1 July 1917, Austria took over the responsibility of the bridge from Tetschen, and promised to pay the shareholders of the ''Kettenbrücken-Aktiengesellschaft'', which had financed the building, restoration, and maintenance. However, only the first installment was paid on 1 January 1918, because then Austria-Hungary was dissolved and the First Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovak Republic founded. Repair was funded by the state in 1919, and more in the following years. The bridge, largely built from wood, was hard to maintain and no longer fit for growing traffic. It was demolished in the early 1930s, and replaced in 1933 by a new bridge which retained the original pier footings. It is named the Tyrš Bridge (''Tyršův most'') after Miroslav Tyrš.

References

External links

Tetschen-Bodenbach
nemelkafamily.com
Brand der Kaiserin Elisabeth Kettenbrücke 1915
oldthing.de
Kettenbrücke um 1930
boehmisches-erzgebirge.cz
Tetschner Kettenbrücken-Gesellschaft
historische-wertpapiere.de Chain bridges Bridges completed in 1855 Bridges over the Elbe Suspension bridges 1855 establishments in the Austrian Empire Děčín

History

See also

References

External links