Fleischbrücke

The Fleischbrücke ("Meat bridge") or Pegnitzbrücke ("Pegnitz bridge") is a late Renaissance bridge in Nürnberg, Germany. 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 in place of older stone and wooden constructions which had repeatedly been destroyed by flood waters.

The "Fleischbrücke" is notable for several advanced technical features: Apart from being unusually wide (15.3 m), the structure's clear span of 27 m made it the largest masonry bridge arch in Germany at the time. In addition, its rise of only 4.2 m resulted in an very low span-to-rise ratio of 6.4 to 1, giving the bridge an almost unprecedented flat profile. [Only the 1569 completed Ponte Santa Trinita in Florence which rested on novel elliptic arches had an even flatter profile.]

This, however, came at the cost of high lateral thrusts even for a segmental arch bridge. This problem was confronted by a particularly innovative construction of the abutments 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, with which Nürnberg shared close trade links. A recent in-depth research, however, stresses the originality of the "Fleischbrücke" 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 "Fleischbrücke" has practically remained unchanged since the addition of a portal in 1599 and has survived World War II almost unscathed. A Latin 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 look: never has been the ox you see 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, ISBN 3-7640-0240-9, pp. 162–167

External links

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* [http://www.brueckenweb.de/datenbank/bruecken/brueckenblatt.php?bas=550 Fleischbrücke at Brueckenweb.de] de icon
* [http://www.baufachinformation.de/denkmalpflege.jsp?md=1988017185590 Pre-history and planning of the "Fleischbrücke"] de icon