Heidelberg's Old Bridge

Many painters have recorded it in their paintings: the Old Bridge, which is called the Carl-Theodor Bridge after the duke of the country who built it. With nine arches, the red sandstone bridge spans the Neckar and blends harmoniously into the urban landscape framed by the river and mountains.

In fact, the Old Bridge is still a relatively young beauty with many wooden ancestors. The first bridge at this point was documented in 1284. Like all subsequent wooden bridge constructions, it became a victim of floods and ice. That is why Kurfürst Carl Theodor - after a large ice flood destroyed the then wooden bridge in 1784 - first built a stone bridge in 1786-88. Its central raised bridge yokes enable rapid drainage in the event of high water.

On 29 March 1945, one of the last days of the war, German soldiers blew up the Heidelberg Neckar bridges and also the Alte Brücke. On 14 March 1946, thanks to a donation campaign strongly supported by the public, reconstruction began. The inauguration was on July 26, 1947. In 2001, the Old Bridge was included in the World Monuments Fund, the list of 100 most endangered monuments in the world.