A trip to Dresden – the Waldschlößchenbrücke

Like a bridge over troubled water…
The first time I went to Dresden was last May with work. The timing was to match Mount Fuji in Japan finally receiving a UNESCO title. We went to film the Waldschlößchenbrücke, a bridge across the river Elbe. The Dresden Elbe Valley had been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is of course a great honour for any city and something that brings tourists to the area.
I was amazed at how beautiful the landscape actually was. Our job was to capture this, and I think it was my favourite project during my three year tenure at my TV News job. The Dresden Elbe Valley is almost 20km of greenery divided by the river Elbe. What is different about the scenery here is that in most big cities, if there is a river present, then it is encased by a wall to prevent flooding of the local area, basically containing the water. Just think of the River Thames, which has walls all the way alongside it. Not so in Dresden. Try to imagine it: a river with miles of green on either side. You can see more and then less of the landscape depending on the height of the water.
Our job was to see how people felt about the bridge, as it had split views. We were stuck in traffic and actually turned up late for one of our interviews. One of the bridges crossing the river had been closed, due to essential maintenance. We went to film another bridge that was only letting traffic across in one direction. We noticed that pieces were actually falling from the bridge in to the water, while cars drove over the bridge. It was obvious these bridges needed some work and quickly.
However, the construction of the bridge was highly controversial. We spoke to a group of protestors who had complained about the bridge ruining the special view. There were people who remembered flying kites in the area that had been concreted over. People who used to live on a quiet street would shortly have large numbers of cars driving past their front door. Others said that there had been an option of creating a tunnel instead of a bridge, which would have saved everyone all of this trouble.
Next we visited the government offices, where the story was quite different. Apparently the protestors had been the ones who had made the project stall. The bridge should have been operating many years before we had arrived and yet still, it was under construction. UNESCO hadn’t even been aware of the bridge ruining the scenery until the protestors had contacted them directly with their complaints. It seems the staff at UNESCO change quickly and even though the original staff had known about the bridge and had said it would be no problem, all of a sudden new people had been employed and the bridge had become a problem. Even after Dresden City Council had compromised by changing the appearance of the bridge to make it fit into the area better, UNESCO had made their decision. In 2009, Dresden officially lost its UNESCO title.
Dresden was the second place in the world to lose this title. In 2007, the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman lost its title because they reduced the site of an animal sanctuary by 90%, largely eliminating the rare fauna and flora of the area.
Even so, the locals in Dresden don’t seem to be mourning their loss. The city is obviously in need of more options to cross the river and a lot of money had been spent on the bridge, which had been ready to use for a number of years already. All this was costing the tax payers money.
One man we met said that losing the UNESCO title might bring in more tourists, as this made it special. He was saying there should be a placard on the bridge saying ‘Former UNESCO World Heritage Site’. Another person mentioned that once the bridge finally opened, the views from the bridge would be amazing and it would surely turn into a tourist site just for photographers.
Either way, when I returned to Dresden in November, I was happy to see the bridge was finally being used. There were a lot of cars and lorries crossing the bridge and as it is a little further out of the city centre, it means that there is less city pollution and less traffic in the main part of town.
I would recommend visiting Dresden in the summer months, or at least in spring, as you can wander along the riverside and enjoy the views from one of the many outdoor restaurants at the top of the hills. It really is something very special. Every bridge along the river is famous and different, but this one has an interesting and unique story, so if you visit Dresden, do look out for it. And let me know what you think of the bridge!