Pontiseum in Warsaw: The Open-Air Museum of Blown-Up Bridges

By the southern end of the Swietokrzyski Bridge, at the corner of Tamka and Zajecza, stands a cluster of maroon steel shapes that are not quite sculpture: the Pontiseum, an open-air museum of Warsaw's lost bridges, opened on 18 May 2021 - International Museum Day and, not by accident, Bridge Engineer's Day.

Twice blown up

Every Vistula bridge in Warsaw was destroyed twice: the retreating Russian army blew them up on 5 August 1915, and the Germans did it again on 13 September 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising. Fragments of three bridges - the Kierbedz bridge (built 1860-64), the bridge by the Citadel (1873-75) and the Poniatowski bridge (1904-1914) - spent more than 70 years in the river's sediments before the Road and Bridge Research Institute recovered and conserved them. The research behind the recovery was led by prof. Barbara Rymsza between 2008 and 2014, and the display is a joint project of the institute with the city's roads and greenery authorities.

Before steel

Warsaw's first permanent bridge was wooden: opened on 5 April 1573, it was ordered by King Sigismund August with financial backing from Queen Anna Jagiellonka, ran 500 metres on 22 spans, and survived 30 years. The city then went 291 years without a fixed crossing, relying on seasonal boat bridges, until Kierbedz's riveted steel bridge - built with over 4,500 tonnes of iron brought from France - opened in 1864.

The Pontiseum is open around the clock and free, a short walk from the Copernicus Science Centre and the Vistula Boulevards.