The Göltzschtal Bridge in the Vogtland district of Saxony is the largest brick bridge in the world. The viaduct with a total of 98 arches is considered a landmark of the Vogtland and spans the Göltzsch valley between the towns of Reichenbach im Vogtland (Mylau district) and Netzschkau on two tracks on the Leipzig-Hof railway line. In 1846, the Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company began building the 78-meter-high arched bridge together with the similar but smaller Elstertal Bridge. The following year, the Saxon-Bavarian State Railway took over construction and completed both bridges simultaneously on July 15, 1851. They are therefore among the oldest testimonies to railway history in Germany. The bridge gave its name to the Mylau Haltestelle station, which opened in 1895 and was renamed Göltzschtalbrücke station in 1903. Two branch lines ended there, coming from Reichenbach Oberer Bahnhof and from Lengenfeld (Vogtland). The foundation stone was laid on May 31, 1846 in the excavation pit of the first pillar to the right of the Göltzsch. After construction had begun, the plans had to be changed because a number of technical difficulties arose. Among other things, the existing building ground in the valley was not as solid as previously assumed, which is why the originally planned uniform arches were replaced by a central and much larger arch based on a design by senior engineer Robert Wilke. Wilke, whose quarters were in Reichenbach, was responsible as senior construction manager for preparing the execution drawings, material and cost calculations, and the construction process based on the design he had helped to create. The engineer Ferdinand Dost took over construction management on site. Instead of segmental or semicircular arches, the two middle arches were designed as statically more favorable basket arches. The Göltzschtal Bridge was an unusually large construction site for its time. For the construction, 50,000 bricks in the unusual Dresden format = 11 3⁄4″ × 5 3⁄4″ × 2 3⁄4″ (in Saxon inches = 2.36 cm; that corresponds to 27.73 cm × 13.57 cm × 6.49 cm) were fired every day by almost 20 brickworks along the railway line. The scaffolding used 23,000 trees, others say 230,000 tree trunks. A total of 1,736 workers were involved in the construction. During construction, 31 workers died in accidents. 1,302 people had to be treated by doctors. By the time the building was completed in 1851, around 26 million bricks had been built, 150,000 on peak days. On September 14, 1850, King Friedrich August II carried out the traditional hammer blows when laying the keystone of the upper large arch. The endurance test was on July 12, 1851. The inauguration ceremony followed on July 15, 1851. To mark the opening of the last section of the railway line from Leipzig to Hof, Reichenbach–Plauen with the Elstertal and Göltzschtal bridges, a procession pulled by the Göltzschtal locomotive from the Saxon Machine Factory drove from Leipzig to Plauen. The passengers included the Prince of Reuss-Greiz and the Saxon Prince Albert of Saxony, representing the king who was unable to attend due to a trip to Italy. The event, designed as a state ceremony, had around 200 participants, 59 of whom were from Dresden. The procession stopped on the embankment close to the Göltzschtal bridge in the midst of a large crowd. There, Wilke presented Prince Albert with a drawing of the Göltzschtal bridge. The procession continued across the bridge to the sound of music and cannon fire to the Elstertal Bridge, where the actual inauguration ceremony took place. Speeches were given by Finance Minister Johann Heinrich August von Behr, who pointed out the significance of the day and thanked the great architect, and the Director of the Saxon-Bavarian State Railway, Councillor Schill, who spoke about the significance of the now completed structures. Prince Albert awarded Major Wilke the Knight's Cross and the engineer Dost the Small Cross of the Order of Merit. Professor Schubert, who was relieved of his duties at the end of August 1847, did not receive a medal. Four passenger trains and two freight trains ran over the bridge according to the first timetable, which came into force on July 16, 1851. When it was completed, the Göltzschtal Bridge was the highest railway bridge in the world; it is considered the world's largest brick bridge. Source: Wikipedia