The 'City Hall Bridge'

In the early days of Berlin the city actually consisted of the two independent towns Berlin and Cölln (see also [P.1]). While Berlin was located east of the river Spree, Cölln was located on an island which was flowed round by the main river and one of its branches.

The 'Lange Brücke'
The first bridge connection of the two settlements was the 'Mühlendamm' (German for 'Mill Dam' about which I plan to write a post in the future). Berlin´s and Cölln´s second bridge was the so-called 'Lange Brücke' (which equals 'Long Bridge' in English). It probably was erected when Berlin and Cölln decided to unite but no later than around 1307. Its name literally related to its length. Back then the river Spree was partly much wider and so for today´s visitors it would be hard to believe that this location once suggested such a name for a river crossing. Being built not only for connecting the town´s districts also the new town hall was erected on it. In order to protect this building the bridge could be closed by gates at its entrances.
The first Lange Brücke was made of wood and for ships it was not possible to pass. In 1660 it was replaced by a better wood construction based on the model of Dutch bridges. The area around the bridge was probably pretty dirty because of the local people using it not only for trading but also as a toilet making the regents dissapointed about that situation.

[P.1] Berlin (red) and Cölln (yellow) in the year 1688: The Lange Brücke is situated relatively in the middle and marked by the letter q. The City Palace is marked by the letter a. Attribution: By J. M. F. Schmidt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The first stone bridge at this place
It was built from 1692 to 1695 by Johann Arnold Nehring and the French engineer Jean Louis Cayart . There are sources which say it was one of the most beautiful artworks of its time. It consisted of five vaults and its construction material was red sandstone from the quarries of the town of Pirna. It became richly decorated: The stone balustrades on each side of the bridge carried six sculptures each. They symbolised figures of Roman mythology. Other decorations symbolised the rivers of Brandenburg, Havel, Dahme, Nuthe and Spree as well as Portraits of the regent and his family. Anyway the most remarkable statue was the one on a podest on the widened vault in the middle of the bridge designed by famous sculptor and architect Andreas Schlüter (*1659 or 1660, +1714) showing Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, 
the so-called 'Great elector' [P.2] riding on a horse while looking out to the city palace with a fierce look. This work is made out of bronze and was cast by Johann Jacobi being a brass founder and working for Schlüter. The casting was done in one piece, a technique Jacobi had learned when he had worked in Paris. The statue was presented to the public on the bridge in the year 1703. 
In 1706 four slaves to the horse's feet were added, symbolising conquered lands and as a reminiscence to the back then flourishing Prussian slave trade.
The builder of the bridge and initiator of the equestrian statue was Friedrich III. the 'Great Elector´s' son: This regent wanted to compete with other European aristocratic dynasties and was influenced by French king Louis XIV. His employee Schlüter originally presented him a more comprehensive planning which included a representative square with Palace, new dome and the nobility's stables with the bridge linking the palace to Berlin´s town centre but it was not realised due to the higher costs.

[P.2] Original title: Berlin, memorial of the elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg  Scherl: Berlin 1938
Designed by Schlüter the monument to the Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1964-88) is located on the 'Elector Bridge' ('Town Hall Bridge'); in the background the waterfront facade of the royal stables is visible. Photographer unknown
Attribution: Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive of Germany), Bild 183-1987-0616-503 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

In 1818 Karl Friedrich Schinkel renewed the bridge [P.3]: It was widened in order to handle the higher traffic and the stone balustrades were replaced by iron railings. Actually Schinkel wanted to conserve the balustrades' stone statues but it turned out to be too expensive. During the demolishing and construction works the equestrian statue was moved by a complicated railing system to another place and after that was moved onto the changed bridge again.

[P.3] View on the Kurfüsternbrücke and the Castle, date 1842. The railings were changed by Schinkel, Painting by Maximilian Roch (1793-nach 1862) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The second stone bridge
In 1893 the 'Lange Brücke' from 1695 was completely replaced be by a new one. It was renamed to Kurfürstenbrücke ('Electors Bridge) and now consisted of only three vaults which made the passage of ships possible. The construction was made out of sandstone. 

[P.4] Kurfürstenbrücke ('Electors bridge'), date 1896, Hermann Rückwardt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Electors Bridge was destroyed during the 2nd World War. Anyway Schlüter´s statue was saved before bombs and grenades would probably have destroyed it. The Nazis removed it in 1943. While transporting it over the Lake Tegel (Tegeler See) it sunk into the lake and kept disappeared for years. Sometime later after the war it was  rediscovered and placed in front of the Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg palace) in West Berlin.

New bridge constructions in Socialist times
After 1945 the centre of Berlin and with it the bridge was situated in the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet Army replaced its remainings with a temporary bridge. Later in the times of GDR (German Democratic Republic, the socialist German satellite state of the Soviet Union) the temporary bridge was rebuilt in the course of the nearby erection of the so-called 'Palast der Republik' (equals 'Palace of the Republic'). The river at this location was narrowed to eight meters width.


The bridge of today
It is the result of a competition from 1999. It was won by German architect Walter A. Noebel (*1953 - +2012). His design approach is rather clear and minimalistic. The vault-less relatively thin steel plate of the roadway and the two pedestrian ways spans from one side to the other, passing two newly built lantern posts on each side. In opposite to the roadway those and the buttresses below the bearings of the bridge are clad in natural stone. The only contrasting details are the railing posts which literally imitate wood branches, a work of the Swiss artist Erik Steinbrecher.

[P.5] The bridge of today, design by Walter A. Noebel, own photo

The decision not to reconstruct the old 'Kurfürsten Bridge' and not to bring back the statue of the 'Great Elector' from the Charlottenburg Palace to its original location on the Town Hall Bridge caused protests by several organisations which would like to reconstruct the original bridge respectively parts of it. Anyway they didn´t succeed relating that matter. Now the modern bridge stands and no reminiscences to its predecessors were made. In my opinion the decision not to bring back the statue was right: After all it represented an emperor having slaves at his feet and being involved in the slave trade of his times: These facts make it impossible for me to vote for the idea of reconstruction at this place. Last but not least the Nazis seemed to adore this statue even so much that they didn´t melt it for arms production as they did with many of Berlin´s public artworks made out of metal. A comeback for a monument being symbol of absolutist reign and slavetrade at such a place as the location next to the rebuilt Berlin City Palace, now lying in the centre of reunited democratic Germany would be a wrong signal of urban planning. Although a contemporary design of the bridge was the right decision there could have been more reminiscences and hints to the past of this site which was so important for Berlin during centuries.

The 'Bridge of spies'

Today´s blog is the second part of my short ago started series about bridges and focuses on the 'Glienicker Brücke'. The German word Brücke equals 'bridge' in English and 'Glienicke' refers to the hunting lodge "Kleinglienicke" which became later, after several modifications 'Schloss Glienicke'  but that´s another story.:) 

The bridge is located in the very southeast corner of today Berlin (for the position pls. check out Map of Berlin and its (hi)stories) and connects it with the Brandenburg capital Potsdam. For some decades it was also a border bridge between the two German states.

But let´s start with the beginnings: 

The first bridge

A narrow wood bridge was built around 1660 only for the nobility. They had the exclusive right to cross the bridge as a connection between their palaces in Potsdam and their hunting grounds on the other side of the river. 

In 1754, the bridge was finally opened for a postal connection between Berlin and Potsdam. 

The second bridge

In 1777 it was replaced by another wooden bridge, now with railings on its edges (see [P1]). For crossing it, a toll had to be paid (of course, nobility had exclusive rights again and didn´t have to pay anything:). Guard houses and moveable barriers were placed on its entrances to make sure the toll was paid by everyone. 

Some years later the Prussian king of that time initiated the construction of so-called 'Chaussees' (old-fashioned, originally French name for well built country road) in his kingdom to strenghten its infrastructure. In 1793 Glienicker Brücke became integrated in such a new street connection, the 'Berlin-Potsdamer Chaussee'.  Now the bridge was  part of the main road connection between Berlin and Potsdam. In order to refinance the construction works and the maintenance , Chaussee users generally had to pay a toll which was collected by officials residing in so-called Chaussee houses ('Chaussee-Häuser') next to the roads every some kilometers. At Glienicker Brücke such a house was also erected and fullfilled this function for around 40 years. With the construction works for the replacement of the wood bridge and the extension of the Glienicke Park, it was demolished.

[P1] The Glienicke Bridge with the draw bridge in its middle and the hunting lodge Glienicke, 1788, by Nagel (SPSG Potsdam) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Schinkel´s bridge

The new Glienicke Bridge, now made of stone, was built from 1832 to 1834 (see [P2] and [P3]). It was the work of well-known architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Like its prede- cessor, it had a draw bridge part in its middle. From a rotunda, also built by Schinkel as an extension of the Glienicke park, replacing the demolished Chausseehaus, contemporaries had a view on the driveway of the bridge and to the surrounding landscape.

[P2] 'Glienicke Bridge', drawing by F. A. Borchel, around 1850 . Note the three masts in the background, behind the horse rider, which seem to belong to a big ship next to the river bank: in fact it´s a romantic mock-up in order to please the novelty. It´s not preserved   (source: Schloss Glienicke (book)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[P3] Casino and bridge Glienicke ,painting by Franz Xaver Sandmann, around 1845, Franz Xaver Sandmann [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

With the opening of the Teltow Canal in 1906, back then a new important water way which ended in the waters close to the bridge, it became necessary to enable the passage of larger ships. This resulted - in addition to the increasing traffic, the road on the bridge was just six meters wide -  in the demolition of this third Glienicker Brücke, an incident which even at that time let preservationists protest..*

*At this point I would like to give a personal critic: 

I also favor the demolished Schinkel bridge regarding the design, especially because in my eyes its masonry and flatness harmonised much more with its surroundings, namely the Glienicke palace, the Villa Schoeningen and the Babelsberg Palace which are all in sight. Maybe there could have been a more harmonic solution as an answer to the increasing traffic, but the now existing bridge as a symbol of east west separation and reunification deserves to be pre- served anyway. 

The 'Kaiser Wilhelm Brücke' (fortunately the name didn´t gain acceptance)

The new bridge, a suspension-bridge-like steel framework, was erected between 1906 and 1907 by the bridge building company Harkort, based in the German city Duisburg. 

The roadway was now 13m wide accompanied by a 3m wide pedestrian way on both sides (see [P4]).

[P4] The bridge at the beginning of 20.century, colonnades in the foreground, own photo

The opening in the middle for ships was 73 m wide now and the clear height for below the bridge was enlarged so that a draw bridge was not necessary anymore. The whole construction weighted 1,400 tons. On the Potsdam side, two stone colonnades in neo-baroque style were erected [P4] as an entrance to the bridge. In 1908, two artworks of the sculptor Stephan Walter were placed on the Berlin side: Stone Centaurs, mythical creatures of ancient Greece 

(see [P6] foreground). The top of the pylones, carrying the hanging steel construction, were acentuated by little gracile towers. They were removed in the year 1931 in order to simplify the the maintenance and repair. 

Destruction

In 1945 the German troops installed explosive devices on the bridge in order to prevent the Soviet troops to enter Potsdam coming from Berlin Wannsee. Anyway the Soviets came from the Potsdam side already. A Soviet grenade hit some of the explosives which destroyed the middle part of the bridge. After the end of the war the Soviets erected a wooden bridge near the destroyed one making the crossing possible for the Allied military. The reconstruction of the bridge lasted from 1947 to 1949. The steel was heaved out of the river by a lifting system and the construction was renewed and simplified by removing the pedestrian ways on the sides. The bridge was then reopened under the name 'Brücke der Einheit' (German for 'Bridge of unity'). From today´s point of view this sounds really ironic, keeping in mind that here the border between the two German states was situated for around 50 years. 

The 'bridge of spies'

From 1949 on, the border between East and West was located directly in the middle of the bridge, marked by a white line. The Potsdam side was part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) which was actually everything but demo- cratic and a satellite state of the Soviet Union. The Berlin side was part of 'West-Berlin' which belonged to West Germany and was base to the Western Allies France, 

Great Britain and USA who had their own 'sectors' in the city. Glienicker Brücke was located in the US controlled southwest sector. After being open to public for around 230 years the bridge was again closed. For a long time only military personnel, diplomats and people with special permission were allowed to cross it. In the coming Cold War decades it would gain importance as a place where spies of both sides were exchanged.

 

[P5] The Glienicke Bridge of today, different colors of the steel construction result from use of different paint by East and West German renovation works; By Uwca at German Wikipedia (Self-photographed) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The first exchange took place in 1962: The American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot above Soviet Union two years before was exchanged at Glienicker Brücke with the Soviet spy Rudolf Iwanowitsch Abel.

Around 20 years later, in 1985, 23 Western spies were exchanged for 4 Eastern spies.

The third and final exchange took place in 1986: Three Western spies and one oppositional who was accused of spying by the Soviet Union, Anatoli Schtscharanski, were set free for five Eastern spies. The case of Schtscharanski was especially difficult because the Soviets wanted the West to declare he was a spy as a precondition for his release but the Western officials saw him as a political prisoner. In the end the negotiations were successful and he was among the released.

Today

After the fall of the wall, the bridge is again open for everyone and a frequented tourist site. A plaquette on the pedestrian walk marks the former border line. Now the bridge is, similar to the Brandenburg gate in my eyes, again an example for an architecture that is a symbol for connecting people and unification. Since 1990 the bridge is listed as a World Heritage Site.

[P6] The bridge in October 2015, own photo

Preservation

[P7] Northern colonnade, 

with wooden reinforcements

In contrast to the monument´s impor- tance the colonnades on the Potsdam site are partly endangered because the inner static structure is damaged (see [P7], [P8]). Because of that the 'Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz', 
a German foundation for preserving  historical monuments, is collecting money these days.  The southern colonnades were already renewed. The northern part still waits for reno- vation.. Check out the Link to the 'Stiftung' on the right side of this page in case you are interested to learn more or support (site is in German).

Tips 

If you plan a trip to Potsdam and have a bit more time than just to see the city centre it´s a nice opportunity to drop by at Glienicker Brücke in addition to for example a visit to Villa Schöningen (Spy museum) or the Glienicke Palace. Another highlight, fitting to the bridge site: Cecilienhof Palace nearby in which the Western powers´ (Stalin, Churchill, Truman) Potsdam Conference took place.

Last but not least: The movie of Steven Spielberg, 'Bridge of spies' could be interesting to view in cinemas in the coming days.

[P8] Colonnades on Potsdam side, the one on the right already renovated, own photo