Luitpoldbrücke, Stone arch bridge in Bogenhausen district, Munich, Germany.
Luitpoldbrücke is a stone arch bridge over the Isar in Munich, carrying the Prinzregentenstraße between Lehel on the left bank and Bogenhausen and Haidhausen on the right, at the foot of the Friedensengel. It crosses the river on a single shallow three-hinged arch of 62.4 m clear span and 6.5 m rise, faced with Muschelkalk limestone from quarries near Würzburg. Small square brick piers stand on the arch and carry the roadway; the parapet alternates closed panels with baluster openings.
The first bridge here, a steel segmental arch built in 1891, was paid for by Prince Regent Luitpold from his own funds. After the Isar flood of 13 September 1899 undermined its right abutment and it collapsed, Luitpold again financed the rebuilding. Theodor Fischer designed the stone bridge, built by Sager & Woerner in 13 months and handed over on 29 September 1901; the figure groups were completed in 1903.
Four stone figures sit on the abutment walls, not at four corners: a hunter by Hermann Hahn for Old Bavaria, a woman with a shield by Erwin Kurz for Swabia, a fisherman by Balthasar Schmitt for Franconia, and a woman with grapes by August Drumm for the Palatinate, which has not been a Bavarian region since 1945. Inscriptions were added below the figures on the left bank wall in 1903.
The roadway is 12 m wide, widened in 1962 from 9 m, while each sidewalk was narrowed from 4.10 m to 2.60 m. The bridge stands at the foot of the Friedensengel, where the Prinzregentenstraße crosses the Isar between Lehel and Bogenhausen. The deck is level, and the parapet is about 1 m high.
The single flat three-hinged arch has a clear span of 62.4 m and a rise of only 6.5 m, with cast-iron hinges at the springings and crown. The crown hinge is hidden on the upstream side by a copper coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria, and on the downstream side by one of Saint Nepomuk.
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