Located at the foot of the Harz Mountains on the north side in Saxony-Anhalt, Quedlinburg with a population of 24,000 inhabitants may be a typical small town, which like its counterparts, used to have industry during the Communist era before the Revolution of 1989 and German reunification in 1990, but is suffering from demographic changes. Yet it is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Germany for various reasons. It was founded in 922 and much of the architecture that exists today- the castle complex (founded by Henry Fowler and built by Otto the Great in 936), the Quedlinburg Abbey (founded by Fowler’s widow, Saint Mathilda), and streets upon streets of Fachwerk houses (houses built with a wooden truss skeleton- date back to the period between 922 and the 1600s. It survived almost entirely unscathed in World War II and this contributed a great deal to being nominated as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. During Christmas time, Quedlinburg hosts the Advent market, held every weekend. Winter sports festivals take place in February, and the town is one of the main tourist attractions in the summer time.
As Quedlinburg is situated along the Bode River, which starts in the Harz Mountain region and empties into the Elbe near Magdeburg, and has several tributaries snaking its way through the historic district, one would think that the town would take pride in their historic bridges, just like its northern German counterpart Friedrichstadt, right?
Quedlinburg has over a dozen bridges spanning the Bode River, Word Creek and other tributaries flowing through the town. While many have been replaced over time because of neglect caused by the GDR Government not financing enough to restore them, there are quite a few bridges, whose historic value is high, yet there is no information in terms of its construction date, the builder and any stories that are associated with them. Unlike all the records kept in Quedlinburg, including the Annals started by the Frauenstift (founded by Saint Mathilda), the records on the bridges in town seem to be non-existent, or are they?
The Bridgehunter’s Chronicles needs your help. If you have any information in forms of old records, old photos and stories pertaining to any of the bridges in Quedlinburg, please contact Jason Smith at the Chronicles at: email@example.com. You can include them in the comment section. Information in the German language is also acceptable and the author will be happy to translate it into English. Once all the information is gathered, a summary and tour of the bridges in this historic town will follow.
To give you a taste of what Quedlinburg has to offer, here is a small gallery of bridges with information to help you start off the search for information on the town’s bridges. As Germans would say, “Vielen Glueck mit dem Jagt.”