The World's Largest Brick Viaduct

Geltsshtalbryuke (German Göltzschtalbrücke) - the world's largest brick viaduct. This railway bridge was built between 1846 and 1851., During its construction has been used for more than 26 million bricks.

The bridge height of 78 meters, length - 574 meters wide at the base - 23 meters. Four-story bridge has 29 spans. The current bridge is part of a highway Dresden, Nuremberg. The bridge passes through the valley

of the river Gelch between the cities of Milan and Nechkau, 4 km west of the town of Reichenbach im Vogtland (Saxony), near the border between the federal states of Thuringia and Saxony in the city Greiz.

Gelchtalbryukke was built in the years 1846-1851 for the construction of Saxony-Bavarian railway in the city of Milan at the same time with the same architectural structure, a bridge between the cities of

Elstertalbryukke Yosnits and Yoketa.

With the construction of this highway that leads from Leipzig through Plauen and Hof in Nuremberg, it was necessary to overcome one of the biggest obstacles - Valley Gelch. Since Saxony-Bavarian Railway Company was not so much money, they tried to January 27, 1845 through a contest with a prize fund of

1,000 thaler declared in all German newspapers, find a favorable solution for the architectural construction of the bridge. The contest received 81 proposal, but none of the candidates could not based on static calculations show the ability to evaluate the burden of the planned rail link. So the money was

divided among the four best offers, none of which has not been implemented.

Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Johann Andreas Schubert on the basis of their own experience of static calculations created a draft of possible solutions, using it separate offers of competitive projects.

Thus, this bridge was the first in the world calculated from static data bridge. The basic material of construction architect was chosen brick, a very unusual material for those times. In this field there were

large areas of clay and so brick was cheap and convenient delivery. Only a few of the most doubtful places, Schubert was planning to use granite.

The bridge was laid on May 31, 1846. After the start of construction of the project once again subjected to changes due to technical difficulties. In addition, the soil at the construction site in the valley was not

as hard as expected, because of what was originally planned symmetrical arches were replaced in the center by a much larger arch designed by Chief Engineer Robert Wilke. This further decorated bridge,

turning it into an impressive architectural structure.

Used in the construction of every 50,000 bricks of unusual size: 28h14h6, 5 cm, along the lines of the construction work of about 20 brick plant. A total of 1,736 construction workers were employed, of

which 31 people died during the works. After construction is completed and the bridge opened July 15, 1851 Gelchtalbryukke became the highest railway bridge in the world and the largest brick bridge, it

remains to this day.

Gelchtalbryukke - is both the name of the head rail station in the valley Gelch, under the bridge. From there, the train tracks diverge on Oberer Bahnhof Reichenbach and Legenfeld (Vogtland).

The current bridge is part of the so-called Saxony-Franconian line, which in 1997-2000 was the reconstruction and allows trains to overcome twisting plots at a rate of up to 160 km / chas.Vdol bridge are scenic roads that offer an impressive panorama of the bridge, the achievements of engineering and technical ideas. Near the bridge was tethered balloon from which could be seen at the bottom of the valley extending from a height of 150 meters, as well as a nearby castle and fortress Nechkau Milan.

Unfortunately, since the middle of August 2007, this attraction is not working because of the high cost of repairs.

The bridge is known and is surrounded by legends and also because in its 150-year history with him repeatedly jumped and commit suicide. In August 2001, he immediately jumped three teenagers from the

nearby Reichenbach. Appeared in the 2002 documentary "The Devil's Game" describes the life of the dead teen friends and their attempts to make sense of what happened. After 8 suicides within eight

months of 2002, the bridge heavily guarded by a detachment of the Federal Police.