Hagen Bridge
bridge in Serbia
Hagen Bridge (Serbian: Хагенов мост, Hagenov most) was a pontoon bridge on the Danube river in Novi Sad, current day Vojvodina, Serbia. The bridge was opened for traffic in 1788. Until 11 November 1883, with the construction of the Emperor Franz Joseph Bridge, this was the only permanent bridge in Novi Sad that crossed the Danube river, only briefly destroyed during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. It was removed in 1918 for the construction of the Prince Tomislav Bridge.
Name
The Hagen Bridge was named after the bridge's designer, Baron von Hagen. It was also commonly referred to as the Pontoon Bridge (Serbian: Понтонски мост, Pontonski most).
Location
The bridge was located next to what would later be the Prince Tomislav Bridge, Marshal Tito Bridge and current Varadin Bridge.
History
Pontoon bridges prior to 1788
Before the construction of the Hagen Bridge, the Petrovaradin Fortress and the young settlement of Novi Sad had several different pontoon bridges throughout their history, earliest appearing on maps from the late 17th century. Used primarily for military purposes, the bridges would connect the Novi Sad gate of Petrovaradin with the Brukšanac (Bruckschanc) bridgehead, such as the pontoon bridge that lasted from 1697 to 1698. Old maps of Petrovaradin from the early 18th century would showcase two pontoon bridges at the time, placed on locations of the future Prince Andrew Bridge and Prince Tomislav Bridge.
“Hagen Bridge” enters the record as bridge in Serbia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hagen, Bridge and bridge can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hagen Bridge” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hagen, Bridge and bridge provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16761331. Authority coordinates are 45.255, 19.857. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1788, 1883, 1848 and 1918.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Hagen Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.