Trogfurth Bridge
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The Trogfurt(h) Bridge (german: Trogfurther Brücke), also called the Great Trogfurt(h) Bridge (''(Große) Trogfurt(h)er Brücke'') was an historical
cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...
in the
Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
of Germany. It was built in 1739/40 as a stone bridge, blown up in 1945 and that same year replaced by a modern bridge. This became superfluous when the
Königshütte Dam The Königshütte Dam (german: Talsperre Königshütte) is a dam in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in the Harz mountains. It impounds the River Bode and lies between Königshütte and Susenburg (both in the borough of Oberharz am Brocken). I ...
was constructed in 1956.


History

The name is comes from the ''Große Trogfurt'', which in turn is derived from the ''Trog-''/''Tockweg'', a road that crossed the River Bode, a tributary of the
Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, ...
, and which was mentioned for the first time in 919. The Trogfurt Bridge was built from
rubble stone Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an i ...
in the years 1739/40 spanning the Bode at a ford on the ''Königsstieg'' ("King's Mountain Road"), which ran from
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
to
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
and was one of the oldest German military and trade routes. The bridge was also used in the transportation of wood from the forest. The bridge stones probably came from the demolished
watch tower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is t ...
of the former castle of Susenburg, which stood on a spur about 800 metres north-east of the bridge and probably served to protect the bridge. On 14 April 1945, just under a month before the end of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
], the bridge was blown up by the Schutzstaffel, SS. In the same year, a modern bridge made of
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
and
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
was built. This became superfluous after the construction of the
Königshütte Dam The Königshütte Dam (german: Talsperre Königshütte) is a dam in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in the Harz mountains. It impounds the River Bode and lies between Königshütte and Susenburg (both in the borough of Oberharz am Brocken). I ...
was completed on 24 August 1956, the dam wall standing just a few metres to the east and thus below the old site of the bridge, which is now covered by water. The crown of the 18.2-metre-high dam wall () now acts as the Bode crossing.


Hiking

From the Trogfurth Bridge it is only a few hundred metres to the plateau of the
Lange Lange may refer to: People *Lange (surname), a German surname * Lange (musician) (born 1974), British DJ * Lange (Brazilian footballer) (born 1966), Brazilian footballer Companies * Lange (ski boots), a producer of ski boots used in alpine (dow ...
and the ruins of the castles of
Königsburg The Königsburg is a ruined medieval castle southeast of Königshütte, a village in the borough of Oberharz am Brocken, in Harz district in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Site The ruins are located above the confluence of the Warme Bod ...
, Trageburg and Susenburg. The former Trogfurt Bridge (''Trogfurter Brücke'') is No. 42 in the system of checkpoints in the
Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...
hiking network; the checkpoint is located at the southern end of the dam wall. From there is a roughly 6 kilometre long circular walk around the reservoir, taking in the aforementioned plateau and castles.


Footnotes and references

The bridge was already being called the ''Trogfurter Brücke'' in publications and deeds before the
German Orthographic Conference of 1901 The German Orthographic Conference of 1901 (the Berlin II Orthographic Conference; german: Zweite Orthographische Konferenz or ') took place in Berlin from 17 until 19 June 1901. The results of the conference became official in the German Empire ...
which deleted the letter ''h'' in many words containing ''th''.
Information board by the Königshütte Da
''Die Trogfurt''
(1) with a photograph of the old stone bridg
Vergrößerung
(2) the accompanying text.
Harzer Wandernadel
''Stempelstelle 42 / Trogfurther Brücke''
at harzer-wandernadel.de
{{Coord, 51, 44, 10, N, 10, 48, 17, E, type:landmark_region:DE-ST, display=title Oberharz am Brocken Buildings and structures in Harz (district) Stone bridges in Germany