Dorndorf, Carl Alexander Bridge @museum.de

The Carl Alexander Bridge spans the River Saale at the foot of the cliff crowned by Dornburg’s palaces. It’s 126 metres and 68 centimetres long, equivalent to 415 feet and seven inches.

There’s evidence of the existence of a wooden bridge over the Saale in this spot in the Middle Ages. Next to it stood a small chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas. For centuries, this was the only river crossing anywhere between Jena and Camburg.

But in late November 1890, the bridge was completely destroyed by flooding. A new, more resilient crossing was needed. It took just two years to build the new bridge slightly downstream of the old site: a three-arched, riveted steel structure resting on masonry pillars. The Carl Alexander Bridge was very advanced in its day.

By comparison, the Eiffel Tower was just three years old at the time. So Dornburg and Dorndorf were at the cutting edge of engineering back then. Nor did the Grand Duchy skimp when it came to funding the new crossing: construction costs came to 227,607 marks and change. In gratitude, the bridge was named after the reigning Grand Duke Carl-Alexander of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

But during the final days of the Second World War, the western arch was blown up by fanatics. The arch was salvaged a year later, and the bridge again made passable. But it took until 1971 before the historic structure could be restored.

In the 1980s, a modern pre-stressed concrete bridge was built only a few hundred metres further downstream, and the fate of the Carl Alexander Bridge was sealed, or so it seemed. The crossing lost its significance and gradually fell into disrepair. Fortunately, the Dorndorf Bridge Association was founded in 2006 and saved "its" bridge from demolition – almost literally at the last moment. In the spring of 2018, an extensive renovation project was launched, made possible by generous financial support from the town of Dornburg-Camburg as well as from the Free State of Thuringia. Since 2020, the historic bridge has been restored to its former glory.