Brücke, Stone arch bridge in Kitzingen, Germany.
The Alte Mainbrücke Kitzingen is a 207-metre stone arch bridge over the Main at river kilometre 286.76, linking Kitzingen with Etwashausen. Each bank carries three arches of 13 to 16 metres' span; the three middle arches were replaced in 1955–56 by a steel girder span about 52 metres wide for shipping. The Kreuzkapelle by Balthasar Neumann stands at the eastern bridgehead.
The bridge was first documented in 1300 as a wooden structure on the trade road from Frankfurt via Würzburg and Nuremberg to Regensburg, replacing a ferry at a ford. It was later rebuilt in stone, except a two-bay wooden section on the Etwashausen side meant to be destroyed in wartime. In 1488 toll rights and maintenance passed from Kitzingen Abbey to the town lords. Balthasar Neumann directed pier repairs in 1744 and his son Franz Ignaz Michael Neumann rebuilt five arches in 1769. German units blew up two arches on 4 April 1945; reconstruction ended on 15 May 1948. In 1955 three central arches were replaced by a steel girder span of about 52 metres.
The bridge's image entered Kitzingen's town coat of arms, and the oldest surviving seal impressions showing it date from 1349. In the 16th century a "Naschkorb" stood on the bridge, a basket in which fruit thieves were locked and ducked into the Main as punishment. A statue of Saint John Nepomuk and an iron cross were added in the 18th century.
The bridge is a car-free zone since October 2011, so it is crossed on foot or by bicycle. It links Kitzingen's old town with the Etwashausen district; the Kreuzkapelle by Balthasar Neumann stands at the eastern bridgehead. Since February 2019 ten steel tubes in front of the piers have protected the structure from drifting ships.
The bridge appears in Kitzingen's town coat of arms; the oldest surviving impressions of a seal bearing its image date from 1349. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection lists it as a Baudenkmal.
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