The Old Bridge goes by this name for a reason – it is the oldest bridge still standing in the whole of the state of Saarland. In the year 1546, Emperor Karl V commissioned the Prince of St Johann to build a bridge across the Saar as the emperor had found himself unable to cross the river on account of flooding. Upon its completion in 1549, it quickly became the most important connection between what were then the two autonomous cities of (Alt/Old-) Saarbrücken and St Johann. During the course of its history, the Old Bridge was damaged and restored a number of times. In 1904, a statue honouring Emperor Wilhelm I was placed on the bridge. For this, one of the bridge’s pillars had to be expanded. The monument escaped damaged during World War II, but its last known photograph is from 1946. Afterwards, it disappeared at some point but it is not known how or where to...
*This free service is provided by KonTour – the Congress and Tourist service of the Saarbrücken Region. You only pay the connection charge from your mobile phone to the German land line. The length of the audio contributions is two to three minutes. There will be no additional charge.
