The Gertrauden-Bridge in the centre of Berlin (East) was built in 1895/96.It was a road-bridge on the Reichs-Strasse no.1,today Bundestrasse 1 (B 1),what was the great west-east connection of Germany,running from Aachen to Eydtkuhnen (on the border with Lithuania).Today it ends at the present border with Poland. The bridge has a facade of massive basalt lava blocs. The bonze-statue in the middle is that of St.Gertraude,patron saint against rats and mice.Rats and mice are to be seen at the base of the statue and it is said to bring (financial) luck,to stroke them. Close to the end of the war,the statue was to be molten in for recovering the bronze for military needs.But the man who was in charge,hid the sculpture and so it could be brought back to her old location a few years later. Because of increased traffic a new bridge for the B 1 was built in 1977 close by.The old bridge was declared a national monument and was transformed into a pedestrian bridge. Stamp issued Oct.8th,1985 in a set of 4 (+ 1).
The Jungfern-Brücke (virgins-bridge) is the oldest existing bridge in the centre of Berlin.Built in 1688 or 1689 the wooden structure was replaced in 1798 by steel-parts and looks today very much the same.However it was restored several times since then.It is now a pedestrian bridge and the mechanics of a bascule bridge are no longer functioning.The last complete reconstruction was done in 1998/99,when the complete bridge was demolished and later rebuild with new built parts,so it now resembles again the state of 1798. The 20 Pfg.-value of this set of 4,issued on Oct.8th,1985 exists in two different prints.The upper stamp is photo-printed,the lower one lithographed.Rather easy to distinguish,as the litho-print looks sharper.The litho-print version was printed in sheetlets of 8. pints: photo 8 millions,litho 16.8 millions (2.1 millions sheetlets).
The Weidenammer Bridge is a road-bridge (Friederichstraße) crossing the river Spree.In the present form it was originally from 1896. Many times overhauled it is now a declared historical monument. The cast-iron railings,decorated by the imperial coat of arms make it a major tourist-spot.
The top-value of this series shows the Marx-Engels-Bridge,since 1991 renamed to Schloßbrücke (Palace Bridge). Opened in 1824 it leads Berlin´s central boulevard "Unter den Linden" across the Spree-Kanal.That explains the size of the bridge,planned by Karl Friederich Schinkel: 56 m long and 32 m wide. Wide enough to allow six lanes for car traffic,plus generous sidewalks. Because of the lack of funds,the statues,now of marble,instead of copper,as intended by Schinkel,were added thirty years later. The statues commemorate the "Befreiungskriege" (wars of liberation from Napoleonic rule) and show greek goddesses and warriors. At the time there was some controversy about the statues,as some of the warriors were completely naked,what angered some of the all-time prudish bigots. In 1912,when the commercial shipping on the Spreekanal had ended,the central part of the bridge,what had been rectangular with a folding-mechanism to allow ship to pass,was replaced by a round arch,like originally planned by Schinkel. A copy of the ironcast railings was given by the King (of Prussia) as a present to the Tsar of Russia and was installed on the "Antishkov-Bridge" in St.Petersburg in 1843.
The Magdeburg liftbridge was originally built as a swingbridge in 1848.It is (was) a railway-bridge,crossing the river Elbe. Rebuilt several times,the swing-bridge was replaced by a lift- bridge in 1895.The final reconstruction was done in 1934. Blown up in the last days of the war by german troops,it was rebuilt soon after in 1946. In 1998 the railway-line was closed and the bridge,a technical monument,now serves as a foot-bridge. The central part of the bridge is a lift bridge,with a width of 86 m, what can be lifted by 2,87 meters.This allows ships at the high- water-limit to pass through with a height of 5.05 m. That is no longer sufficient for modern ships,to pass at high-water. Originally (1895) the lift was done by a hydraulic system,but that was replaced by an elektro-mechanical one.In case of an emergency, that allows the bridge to be lifted by hand (!). Stamp issued Oct.18th,1988,from a set of 5.
Located in the village of Altfriesack,north-west of Berlin in Brandenburg,the drawbridge was built,after dutch models, in 1787.In 1927 the wooden original brigde,was replaced by a steel-construction.It serves as road- and pedestrian-bridge. Stamp issued Oct.18th,1988,from a set of 5.
The Ziegelgraben-Drawbridge is part of the Rügendamm,a road- and railway connection between Stralsund and Germany´s largest island Rügen.Buit in the 1930th it is a double-drawbridge.One for road-traffic and beside that one for railway-traffic.The bridge opens six times for 20 minutes every day,to let ships pass.Closed only ships not exceeding six meters in hight (over water) can pass. In 2007 parallel to the old bridge a high-bridge for road-traffic only was opened. Stamp issued Oct.18th,1989 (from a set of 5).
The (first) "Friendship Bridge",crossing the Mekong,connects Thailand´s Nong Khai with the laotian capital Vientiane. Built with the help of Australia,the bridge is a combined road- and railway bridge.There are also walks for pedestrians,but it is not allowed to use them.The railroad still ends on the laotian side near the bridge. A connection to Vientiane is planned,but probably no-one wants to pay for it.From the Thailand side there is a direct rail-connection to Bangkok. Stamp was issued on April 8th,1994.
The Thailand stamp for the same bridge,also issued on April 8th 1994. It gives a better idea of the size of the bridge,what has a length of 1170 meters. The high elevation of the bridge above the waterlevel is due to the extreme fluctuations between low- and high-water of the Mekong. But possibly this soon will be a matter of the past,as China is building a string of dams upstream.
