place

Pancer Viaduct

Bridges in Warsaw
Warsaw Mariensztat
Warsaw Mariensztat

The Pancer Viaduct was a viaduct in Warsaw joining Castle Square to the Kierbedzia Bridge. It was built in 1846, and demolished in 1944 and was replaced by the Warsaw W-Z Route thoroughfare. It was designed by Felix Pancer and constructed with seven arched vaults made of brick, supported by six pillars and two abutments. Initially, New Downhill Street (ulica Nowy Zjazd) allowed travel from Castle Square to Dobra Street along the viaduct. The street had the shape of the letter "J", reaching the Vistula, and then turning back sharply and steeply towards Dobra Street. After the construction of the Alexander Bridge (commonly called the Kierbedzia Bridge) in 1864, New Downhill Street running over the Pancer Viaduct became the main artery leading from the left-bank of Warsaw to Praga on the right-bank. Tram tracks were on the viaduct from the very beginning. Initially it was a horse-drawn tram line belonging to the railway, which was built to connect the Praga broad gauge line to the standard gauge of the Warsaw-Vienna line. This became the nucleus of the tram network in Warsaw. The original plans for the Kierbedzia Bridge included a rail line to perform this function but the rail part of this plan was abandoned. The viaduct was blown up after the Warsaw Uprising. Retreating German troops blew up the penultimate pillar, causing two adjacent spans to collapse. After the war, there were plans to rebuild the viaduct, but they were abandoned because the significant increase in pedestrian and automobile traffic would have been dangerous for Castle Square and the Old Town. Under the intersection of Krakowskie Przedmieście and Miodowa Street a tunnel was built for the W-Z Route which resulted in the need to reduce the road. The Pancer Viaduct was demolished, and a road was built from the tunnel to the Śląsko-Dąbrowski Bridge (which replaced the demolished Kierbedzia Bridge) on new embankments and viaducts. The only surviving part of the viaduct is a plaque commemorating its construction. It can be found in Castle Square, next to fragments of previous versions of Sigismund's Column. It includes an inscription in Russian and Polish.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Pancer Viaduct (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Pancer Viaduct
Grodzka, Warsaw Śródmieście (Warsaw)

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Pancer ViaductContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.24695 ° E 21.014919444444 °
placeShow on map

Address

Stare Miasto 02

Grodzka
00-079 Warsaw, Śródmieście (Warsaw)
Masovian Voivodeship, Poland
mapOpen on Google Maps

Warsaw Mariensztat
Warsaw Mariensztat
Share experience

Nearby Places

Royal Castle, Warsaw
Royal Castle, Warsaw

The Royal Castle in Warsaw (Polish: Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a royal residence that formerly served throughout the centuries as the official home of Polish monarchs. It is situated in Castle Square, at the entrance to the Warsaw Old Town. The personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the royal court were located in the Castle from the 16th century until the final partition of Poland in 1795. Initially, the fortified complex served as the residence of the Masovian dukes. In the early 1600s, it was designated to replace Wawel Castle in Kraków as the seat of the King, Parliament (Chamber of Deputies and Senate), and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The medieval Gothic structure was remodelled into Italian mannerism by architects Matteo Castelli and Giovanni Battista Trevano. The Baroque easternmost wing was designed by Gaetano Chiaveri and completed in 1747. The Royal Castle witnessed many notable events in Poland's history; the Constitution of 3 May 1791, first of its type in Europe and the world's second-oldest codified national constitution, was drafted here by the Four-Year Parliament. The edifice was redesigned into a neoclassical style following the partitions of Poland. Under the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939), it was the seat of the Polish head of state and president. The Second World War brought complete destruction to the building; in September 1939 it was targeted and ignited by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft, and then detonated by the Nazis after the failed Warsaw Uprising in 1944. In 1965, the surviving wall fragments, cellars, the adjacent Copper-Roof Palace and the Kubicki Arcades were registered as historical monuments. Reconstruction was carried out in the years 1971–1984, during which it regained its original 17th century appearance. In 1980, the Royal Castle and surrounding Old Town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, it serves as a museum annually visited by over 500,000 people, and one of Warsaw's most recognizable landmarks.