1896–1918Pontoon Bridge
Crowds on the Pontoon Bridge to Petrovaradin, Franz Joseph Inset
Crowds cross the pontoon bridge toward the Petrovaradin fortress as rowboats pass beneath, with a portrait inset at the corner showing the Emperor Franz Joseph in formal dress with a sash. The trilingual German, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian caption carries no Cyrillic. The emperor's portrait places this firmly within the Austro-Hungarian period.
About this place
Before any permanent bridge stood here, Novi Sad and Petrovaradin were joined by a wooden pontoon bridge laid across the Danube on oak floats. Crossings of this kind were used from the late seventeenth century, and the first standing bridge dates from 1788; it was known as Hagen's bridge after the officer, Baron von Hagen, who designed it on the model of one at Mannheim. It was laid each spring by the pontonier unit stationed at Petrovaradin and taken up again before the first ice, and its middle section could be drawn aside to let river traffic through. Carts paid a toll while anything carried by hand went free, residents of the two towns crossed without charge, and the season opened every year with a handshake between the mayor of Novi Sad and the commandant of the fortress. The bridge was removed for the last time in 1918, when work began on the permanent crossing that became the Prince Tomislav bridge.
On the card
Péterváradi vár
- Date
- 1896–1918
- Coordinates
- 45.25463, 19.85729
- Source
- National Széchényi Library - postcards
- Credit
- National Széchényi Library
- Licence
- Public domain
- Size
- 2320 × 1521 px
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