Treptower Brücke, Stone arch bridge in Kreuzberg and Alt-Treptow, Germany.
The Treptower Brücke is a brick arch bridge with three equal-width openings over the Flutgraben of the Landwehrkanal, linking Kreuzberg with Alt-Treptow at the southern tip of the Lohmühleninsel. It is built of red clinker bricks with sparse bands of yellow clinker, and its fence-like brick parapet adds to the decoration. The bridge is a protected monument and is no longer open to vehicles.
The bridge was built in 1852 during the conversion of the Landwehrgraben into a navigable canal, following designs by Johann Jacob Helfft (1802–1869). It spans the Flutgraben, connecting Kreuzberg with Alt-Treptow, and received its name by royal order. After World War II it marked the border between the American and Soviet sectors; in 1961 concrete segments of the Berlin Wall were placed directly beside it. The district of Kreuzberg had it extensively restored and cleaned in 1993.
The bridge is named after Treptow, the district it connected to when it was built in 1852 on royal order. Its brick parapet, laid in a fence-like pattern, is a decorative element visitors can spot. Since the Wall opened, the Berliner Mauerweg runs right past the southern end through the Schlesischer Busch.
The bridge is closed to motor traffic because Lohmühleninsel is now a park; pedestrians and cyclists cross it. The Berliner Mauerweg runs directly past its southern end through the Schlesischen Busch. Since 2007/2008 the bridge deck has been paved with natural stone laid in scale-like arcs, and both ends open funnel-shaped onto the green banks.
The bridge is often confused with the Treptower Brücke over the Neukölln Ship Canal; this one crosses the Landwehrkanal's Flutgraben to the southern tip of the Lohmühleninsel. Its three equal brick arches are sparingly decorated with red clinker and yellow clinker bands, and the fence-like brick parapet is itself an ornament. The brick foundations sit in the canal bed.
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