Bridge 41 Johanna Borskibrug (Johanna Borski Bridge). Brug een enveertig.
Brug 41 like #brug30 (De Isa van Eeghenbrug) is located on the Vijzelstraat although this one spans the Keizersgracht.
In 2020/2021, the bridge is being taken apart and then reassembled so my images are not of it at its best. The bridge suffered from subsidence, but had to remain functional for pedestrians and cyclists driving to and from the city center.
Also like #bridge30 it is one of three bridges designed as a group. During the widening of the Vijzelstraat from 1911, architect Jo van der Mey made designs for the three bridges. They have some unity in appearance however, the building of them took place in phases during the widening of the Vijzelstraat. Piet Kramer was forced to design three new bridges, for #bridge30 he largely used the original, but for #bridge41 and #brug70 he made a completely new design. Bridge 41 was not completed until 1923.
The abutments and pillars are made of brick and natural stone and it is surrounded by four natural stone columns on the abutments; these mention SPQA a joke by Kramer referring to the Roman SPQR. He was after all working for theAmsterdam Public Works Department. Kramer’s design signature can also be seen in the year stones (anno 1923) and the decorative ironwork in the balustrades/railings which we have seen on his other bridges. The parapets are built in the style of the Amsterdam School with alternation brick and masonry bonds and at the end natural stone.
The bridge was officially named in 2016 after a famous banker from the seventeenth century.
