Laasan Bridge (Poland)
The photograph is from a 1900 German article[1], which described it as 'Diese Brücke war die erste eiserne Brücke des europaischen Festlandes.' (This bridge was the first iron bridge of the European mainland.). Cast in 1794, erected 1796. In fact, there were older iron bridges in Russia, but these are believed to have been made mainly from wrought iron, whereas this is a cast iron bridge. Laasan was the German name for what is now Łażany. The bridge crossed the Striegauer (Strzegomka) River.
The engineer was John Baildon and the castings were made at the Malapane (Malapanew) foundry in Ozimek. It had a span of 12.5 metres.
Unfortunately the bridge was destroyed in 1945.
On the 200th anniversary of the bridge, work was undertaken to salvage parts of the bridge, and pieces of the arches, the roadway and the railings were recovered. Metallurgical analysis was undertaken on some samples.[2].
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Zeitschrift Des Vereines Deutsche Ingenieure Vol XXXXIV 21 April 1900, p.497
- ↑ [1] 200 Jahre eiserne Brücken auf dem europä schen Kontinent (200 Years of iron bridges on the European continent - Following the tracks in Silesia and Lusatia) by Hartmut Pasternak, Jozef Rabiega, Jan Biliszczuk. Ernst & Sohn Stahlbau 65 (1996) Heft 12 (in German)