The Saxons' Bridge (Litt.: ''Sachsenbrücke'') over the ''Elsterflutbett'' (the flood channel of the

Elster Elster may refer to: Places * Black Elster (''Schwarze Elster''), a river in Germany * White Elster (''Weiße Elster''), a river in Germany and the Czech Republic ** Elster Viaduct, a railway bridge over the White Elster ** Elster Viaduct (Pirk ...

) connects the eastern and western parts of Clara Zetkin Park (formerly King Albert Park) in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Located southwest of the

city center A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms that exist in ...

, it also provides a car-free connection for

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s and

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

s from the center to the western part of Leipzig via Anton-Bruckner-Allee. According to the data from the 2021/22

traffic count A traffic count is a count of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, which is conducted along a particular road, path, or intersection. A traffic count is commonly undertaken either automatically (with the installation of a temporary or permanent elec ...

, the Saxons' Bridge has the highest traffic occupancy with over 15,000 cyclists per day in cycling in Leipzig.

History

The bridge is named after the Saxon troops switching sides from

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

to the allies during the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

in 1813. However, this name only became official on 7 November 1901. The first bridge on the same site was built in 1897 for the ''Sächsisch-Thüringische Industrie- und Gewerbeausstellung'' (Litt.: Saxon-Thuringian industrial and commercial exhibition). The bridge in its current version was built in 1928 after the Elster Flood Channel was widened. Today the heritage monument is a popular meeting place, especially for young Leipzig residents, and attracts musicians and artists, especially in summer. During the period of the expiring

Corona lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

in June 2021, the bridge made media headlines as a party and crime hotspot after over 1,000 people gathered here several times over the weekend to celebrate. In April 2022, the climate alliance “Leipzig for the Climate” applied the

warming stripes Warming stripes (sometimes referred to as climate stripes, climate timelines or stripe graphics) are data visualization graphics that use a series of coloured stripes chronologically ordered to visually portray long-term temperature trends. Wa ...

as a painting to the road surface on the bridge.

Literature

* Bettina Weil: ''Leipziger Brücken II – Brücken über Weiße Elster, Elsterflutbett, Elsterbecken, Elstermühlgraben, Hundewasser und Knauthainer Elstermühlgraben'' 0/08 Stadt Leipzig, Amt für Statistik und Wahlen, Leipzig 2008, p. 48 (in German)

Footnotes

External links

{{Commons category, Sachsenbrücke (Leipzig), The Saxons' Bridge Bridges completed in 1929 Geography of Leipzig Pedestrian bridges in Germany Cyclist bridges