The Fleisch Bridge ( or "Meat Bridge") or Pegnitz Bridge (''Pegnitzbrücke'') is a late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

bridge in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The bridge crosses the river Pegnitz in the center of the old town, linking the districts St. Sebald and St. Lorenz along the axis of the main market. The single-arch bridge was built between 1596 and 1598 and replaced an earlier mixed construction of stone and wood which had been repeatedly destroyed by flood. The Fleisch Bridge is notable for several technical features that were advanced for its time. These include an unusual large width of 15.3 m, and a clear span of 27 m which made it the largest masonry bridge arch in Germany at the time of its construction. With a rise of only 4.2 m, the arch features a span-to-rise ratio of 6.4 to 1, giving the bridge an almost unprecedented flat profile. This, however, came at the cost of high lateral thrusts even for a segmental arch bridge. This problem was solved by a particularly innovative construction of the

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s which were built onto 2000 wooden piles, 400 of which were rammed obliquely into the grounds. A very similar arrangement of the abutments had also been implemented slightly earlier at the Rialto bridge, leading to speculations about a technology transfer from

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, with which Nuremberg shared close trade links. A recent in-depth research, however, stresses the originality of the Fleisch Bridge on grounds of technical differences between the two bridges.Kaiser, Christiane: ''Die Fleischbrücke in Nürnberg (1596-1598)'', Cottbus, 2005, Dissertation, Vol. I, p. 245 The Fleisch Bridge has practically remained unchanged since the addition of a portal in 1599 and survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

almost unscathed. A

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

inscription at the portal reads: ''Omnia habent ortus suaque in crementa sed ecce quem cernis nunquam bos fuit hic Vitulus.'' ("All things have a beginning and grow, but the ox upon whom you now look was never a calf.")

References

Sources

*Kaiser, Christiane: ''Die Fleischbrücke in Nürnberg (1596-1598)'', Cottbus, 2005, Dissertation *Von Stromer, Wolfgang: "Pegnitzbrücke Nürnberg (Fleischbrücke)", in: ''Steinbrücken in Deutschland'', Beton-Verlag, 1988, pp. 162–167 *Pechstein, Klaus: "Allerlei Visierungen und Abriss wegen der Fleischbrücken", in: ''Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums'', 1978, 72–89.

External links

*
Pre-history and planning of the Fleisch Bridge
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Nuremberg Bridges in Bavaria Stone bridges in Germany Bridges completed in the 16th century Buildings and structures completed in 1598 Transport infrastructure completed in the 1590s Stone arch bridges