The extraordinary history of bridges in Warsaw – facts, curiosities (ciekawostki)
Warsaw is the largest city in Poland and the capital of this country. The city is located in central Poland, on the largest Polish river – the Vistula (Wisla). A wide river divides the city into two parts. No wonder that it was necessary to build bridges that would facilitate communication between the two parts of Warszawa (Warsaw). Here are the facts about Warsaw’s bridges. History and present of Warsaw bridges
History of bridges in Warsaw
1) In Warsaw, the first bridge over the Vistula River was built in the 16th century. Master Erasmus Bridge was opened on April 5, 1573. Unfortunately, 30 years later, during the thaw, ice floes destroyed this bridge. Warsaw waited for another one until 1864, when the Kierbedzia Bridge was opened.
2) In 1944, the German army, knowing that the Russians were approaching Warsaw from the east, blew up all the bridges connecting the left-bank and right-bank parts of the city. First, the Poniatowski Bridge was destroyed, then two bridges at the Citadel (a road and rail bridge and a cross-city bridge), and finally the Kierbedzia Bridge. The Polish capital was left without bridges for the second time in history. The first time was 29 years earlier, during World War I. In 1915, all Warsaw’s bridges were destroyed by the retreating Russian army.
Warsaw bridges – facts
3) The Poniatowski Bridge is 506 meters long. It was built in 1914-1915. At the entrance to the bridge from the Praga side, there is a sandstone plaque commemorating the soldiers of the 10th Infantry Regiment who died in the battles for the liberation of Warsaw in September 1944.
4) The Lazienkowski Bridge (initially the bridge named after General Zygmunt Berling) was built in 1971–1974 and is part of the Lazienkowska Route. It is 424.50 meters long. In 2015, a fire damaged its structure and it was closed for 8 months.
5) The Swietokrzyski Bridge connects two districts of Warsaw: Srodmiescie and Praga-Północ. It is 479 meters long and is a cable-stayed bridge. It was put into use in 2000.
6) The Siekierkowski Bridge is 500 meters long and was commissioned in 2002.
Bridges in Warsaw – curiosities
7) Currently in Warsaw there are 10 bridges on the Vistula River. Two of them are railway bridges – the Gdański bridge and the cross-city bridge. The road bridges are (in order from the north): Sklodowska-Curie Bridge (Northern), Grota-Roweckiego Bridge, Slasko-Dabrowski Bridge, Swietokrzyski Bridge, Poniatowski Bridge, Lazienkowski Bridge, Siekierkowski Bridge and Anna Jagiellonka Bridge (Southern).
8) The bridges in Warsaw with the largest number of cars passing by are: the Grota-Roweckiego Bridge (about 205,000 cars a day), the Łazienkowski Bridge (over 128,000 cars a day) and the Siekierkowski Bridge (over 110,000 cars a day). This data is for 2019.
9) Currently, the longest bridge in Warsaw is the Anna Jagiellonka (Southern) bridge. It is 533.6 meters long.
You can read a lot of interesting facts on various topics at: SuperPolonia.info and Sadurski.com.
In the photo: Happy Skyscraper in the center of Warsaw. The smiling traveler has been traveling the world since 2012. It is a symbol of the Good Humor Party – an international organization that cheers the world up. The founder of the organization and its president is Szczepan Sadurski. He is a well-known event caricaturist, called one of the fastest caricaturists in the world.
