Brücke über das Meer, Wooden sculpture in Eckernförde, Germany

Brücke über das Meer is a wooden sculpture by Latvian artist Ojārs Pētersons, installed on the beach in Eckernförde at the height of the Stadthotel. It represents part of a bridge aligned toward Riga, where a counterpart once faced Eckernförde. Rebuilt in 2014 from larch wood, it stands as a symbol of friendship and understanding between East and West.

The installation was erected in 1990 by Latvian artist Ojārs Pētersons, who has taught at the Latvian Academy of Arts since 1990, as the Eckernförde half of a bridge aligned toward Riga, where its counterpart faced back. The original beach version near the Stadthotel collapsed in a storm in 2000, was rebuilt in 2001, then dismantled as unsafe in 2010; the Riga piece came down in 2012. The present version, built in larch instead of pine, was re-inaugurated on 30 July 2014 by State Secretary Eberhard Schmidt-Elsaeßer.

The installation embodies a connection between Eastern and Western Europe that visitors can physically experience when walking through it. The relationship is reinforced by its counterpart across the Baltic Sea, linking two distant coastal communities through art.

The sculpture sits directly on the beach and is easily accessible from the coastal promenade. Visitors can walk through it at any time, and the wooden framework provides some shelter if weather conditions change.

The construction is deliberately oriented to point toward Riga, a city more than 400 kilometers away across the Baltic Sea. This invisible line connects two artists and two nations in a subtle but meaningful way.