St Matthias' Bridge

St Matthias' Bridge connects Tamka Island, also known as St Matthias's Island, with the Old Town in Wrocław. It is the only permanent connection between this island and the mainland, spanning St Matthias's Weir Canal - a side arm of the Oder flowing south of the island.

From a mill to an iron bridge

A crossing linked to water mills has existed here for centuries. The first mill on the island, St Matthias's Mill, was already mentioned in 1254, and in 1539 a new water supply system was built here. Another wooden bridge was built in 1880, and the current iron St Matthias' Bridge was erected in 1905-1907. It was rebuilt in 1967, and in 2007 it was thoroughly renovated together with the adjoining river embankments.

Traces of the former weir

On the site of the demolished mills, in the rebuilt millraces, stood one of the three spans of St Matthias's Weir with needle-and-trestle gates, part of the Piaskowy Water Step. After the damming level at the Mieszczański Water Step was increased in 1959, the trestles were dismantled, and only the bridge and the reinforced banks remain of the former waterworks.

Structure and dimensions

The bridge is 15.75 metres long and 7.5 metres wide, made up of a 3.5-metre-wide roadway and two 2-metre-wide footpaths. It is built as a steel structure with welded joints, a single-span freely supported beam resting on three main girders. The roadway is paved with granite setts, and the abutments are topped with stone balustrades of sandstone and granite copings with a neo-Gothic ornament, next to which small viewing terraces have been arranged.

Practical information

• Location: Tamka Island, Old Town in Wrocław, the bridge connects it with Grodzka Street and Szewska Street
• Access: on foot from the Old Town, a few hundred metres from the Market Square
• Nearby: Tumski Bridge, Market Hall and the Archcathedral of St John the Baptist
• What to expect: stone viewing terraces on the abutments and a view of the canal between the islands of the City Water Junction