Eiffel Bridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates | 47°11′59.6″N27°47′13.5″E / 47.199889°N 27.787083°E |
| Crosses | Prut |
| Locale | between Ungheni and Ungheni, Iași |
| Preceded by | A bridge built in 1874 |
| History | |
| Designer | Nikolai Belelubsky [1] |
| Opened | 21 April [ O.S. 9 April] 1877 |
| Location | |
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The Eiffel Bridge (Romanian : Podul Eiffel) is a bridge over the River Prut and a checkpoint between Moldova and Romania. The bridge is located between Ungheni, Moldova and Ungheni, Romania.
On 18 May [ O.S. 6 May] 1872 a Russian diplomatic agent, Ivan Alekseevich Zinov'ev, and Gheorghe Costaforu signed a rail junction convention, which was ratified on 21 January [ O.S. 9 January] 1873. [2] and the Iași-Ungheni railway was opened on 1 August 1874. The railway Chișinău-Cornești-Ungheni (built 1871–1875) was opened on 1 June 1875 by the Russian Empire in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).[ citation needed ] Ungheni customs were established in 1875 after putting into operation the Chișinău-Ungheni-Iași railroad. The railway Chișinău-Cornești was already opened in 1873.
The first metal bridge was built according to the design of the Russian engineer Nikolai Belelubsky between 1874-1876. The first Russian troops crossed the bridge in 1877. Due to a testing process that lasted another 5 years, the bridge did not come into civilian use until 1881. It was blown up by retreating Russian troops on 22 June 1941 and rebuilt for the needs of German-Romanian troops. Bombed in 1944, it was rebuilt by the Russians between 1944 and 1946. [1]
Today, the bridge remains a strategically positioned construction under the supervision of border guards.
