This crossing is a post-war replacement, built where the Lessing Bridge was destroyed during the 1945 siege of Festung Breslau. Before the city’s fortifications came down in 1808, a river crossing here linked the timber yard on the south bank with the Sand Suburb across the water. A wooden bridge followed, then, in 1875, a four-span steel truss bridge designed by Alexander Kaumann and named for the Enlightenment dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
The damage in 1945 was too severe to justify repairing that earlier bridge: two of its four spans had been wrecked, so Wrocław chose an entirely new structure. Construction began in 1954, and the bridge opened in 1959 as Most Wojewódzki. Its present name, Most Pokoju—Peace Bridge—has been in use since 1966.
As you continue along the pavement, the scale makes sense of its working role: this is a 125.3-metre, three-span crossing carrying road traffic, pedestrians, and a double tram track over the Odra’s main channel. During the 2003 overhaul, the tram tracks were moved into the space between the carriageways. Near the northern end, a granite commemorative plaque remains from an unrealised monument project.
