Former Jubilee Bridge - The Bridge of Freedom
It was solemnly opened and called the Jubilee Bridge on the day of Franz Joseph I’s birthday, on August 18th, 1903. It was on the occasion of 55 years of the Emperor’s reign. The bridge was a metal construction with three spans supported by four stone pillars. Beautiful Art Nouveau balustrades with plaited ornamentation rested on bent elements fastened to the steel-work of the bridge. At the entrances to the bridge, on both its sides, pylons were placed. They were more than 3m high and topped with triangular frontons. On the pylons marble plaques were hung with the following inscriptions in Polish and German: ‘Most Cesarza Franciszka Józefa’ and ‘Kaiser Franz Josef-Brücke’ (‘The Emperor Franz Joseph’s Bridge’).
The bridge was destroyed in September 1939 by the Polish army, withdrawing from the Nazis. Another, temporary bridge was put up in 1947, but that one, too, was wiped out by a flood in 1970. During the attempt to rescue the bridge five firemen died. It is to them that the commemorative plaque on the headquarters building of the Frontier Guards is dedicated. The present bridge was built in 1974.
Photographs: Dominik Dubiel, Paweł Halama, Daniel Hryciuk, Magdalena Jańczuk, Renata Karpińska, Mariusz Makowski, Joanna Rzepka-Dziedzic, Anna Szostok-Fedrizzi, Henryk Tesarczyk
Translation from Polish: Lucyna Krzanowska and John Whitewood
Reproductions of exhibits, documents and photographs from the collections of:
- Museum of Cieszyn Silesia in Cieszyn,
- Cieszyn Historical Library,
- Cieszyn Branch of the State Archive in Katowice,
- Cieszyn Town Council,
- Museum of Beskidy in Frýdek-Mistek,
- private collection of Mariusz Makowski
- H. Wawreczka, J. Spyra, M. Makowski, ‘Cieszyn i Czeski Cieszyn na starych widokówkach i fotografiach’, WART, Nebory 1999