Nibelungen Bridge (Regensburg)

As another traffic improvement measure, before the bridge was rebuilt, the streets leading to it at each end were widened.

The bridge consists of two sections of similar design over the two arms of the Danube on either side of the Lower Wöhrd, one of the two islands within the city.

In summer the cost of constructing both was estimated at almost ℛℳ 5.05 million,[3] which led to a dispute between the city, the state of Bavaria and the Reichswehr, which was intensely interested in the Danube bridge.

In summer 1935 it was agreed that costs would be shared between the Reich, the city, Bavaria and the Reichswehr, and preparations for construction began.

In 1937 the north span opened to traffic and repairs immediately began on the Stone Bridge.

On 18 June 1938, the south span and the Frankenbrücke both opened, and on 16 July Minister Wagner ceremonially christened the bridge.

[4] Immediately after the end of the war, work began on clearing rubble and establishing ferry service between Weichs and the Lower Wöhrd to carry traffic; a pontoon bridge was later put in place.

On 3 March 2001, the foundation stone for the new Nibelungen Bridge was laid by the Lord Mayor of Regensburg, Hans Schaidinger, and the Bavarian Interior Minister, Günther Beckstein.

The cost of the bridge was increased by at least DM7.6 million by the need to acquire more steel because of a data entry error combined with underestimation.

[9] For the 1938 Adolf Hitler Bridge, Munich sculptor Albert Allman was commissioned to carve a group of maidens and a monumental Nazi eagle.

He began work over a year late; when the bridge was dedicated, the eagle was not yet ready and was ineptly added to the official photographs by retouching.

It was announced at the time that the city would find an appropriate use for the eagle, but as of 2008 it was still in storage, despite a 2003 invitation for proposals from well-known artists and an exhibit of the suggestions, which included wrapping it in the manner of Christo and permitting nature to reclaim it by letting grass grow over it.

Other ideas have included smashing it and reassembling it randomly, and a local entrepreneur once offered to buy it and put it in his garden.