The Old Elbe Tunnel:A monument to marvel at

It is the first river tunnel in Europe - and a technical sensation:the St. Pauli-Elbtunnel in Hamburg. It goes into operation on September 6, 1911. Since 2003, the "landmark of civil engineering" has been a listed building.

by Kathrin Weber

A huge domed roof, three imposing stone portals with pillars and gables:At first glance, the rotunda on the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken in Hamburg is reminiscent of a building from antiquity. But the building on the Elbe hides neither a temple nor a church. It provides access to a masterpiece of engineering - the Old Elbe Tunnel. Two staircases, each with 132 steps, four hydraulically operated cabins for vehicles and two small passenger elevators lead 24 meters down. There is the entrance to two brightly tiled tubes. They lead 426.5 meters under the water to Steinwerder on the southern side of the Elbe.

The first river tunnel in Europe is being built

When the St. Pauli Elbe Tunnel went into operation on September 7, 1911, it was the first underwater tunnel on the European continent and a technical sensation. For four years, 4,400 workers pushed their way piece by piece through the damp mud under the Elbe and created two tubes, each six meters in diameter, under difficult conditions. The shield tunneling method, which was state-of-the-art at the time and is still used today, was used. Workers used shovels to move sand and earth out of the way in front of a large hydraulically driven drilling shield. They then supported the resulting tunnel with so-called tubbings. These are steel elements that are assembled into a ring and then riveted, sealed and plastered.

High-risk work at overpressure

In order to prevent the ingress of water, the work was carried out at overpressure and the workers and engineers involved were exposed to a high health risk. Although pressure locks were already in use, in which the men were supposed to adapt to the ambient pressure during entry and ascent, almost 700 of them showed mild to severe symptoms of what is known as diving disease, and three died from it. The Bornstein couple, who were appointed to look after the team in 1909, were also unable to prevent this, because at that time medicine still had little experience with compressed air medicine.

Important new traffic route for the city of Hamburg

After the opening, up to 19 million people use the tunnel in peak years. For many dockers, it is a quick and free way to get from the city to their jobs in the port and shipyards on the other side of the Elbe. As early as the 1870s, those responsible for the city had been thinking about an alternative to ferry services, which had reached the limits of their capacity and often had to be stopped due to fog and ice. The Senate considered both a transporter bridge and a high bridge, but rejected both for reasons of cost and decided in 1902 to build a tunnel. The model was the Clyde Tunnel in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened in 1895, it also connected the city to the port area and had six elevators on each side.

1907:Tunnel construction begins

Work began on July 22, 1907. First, two shaft buildings were built at the head of the tunnel in Steinwerder and St. Pauli, which were later equipped with four freight elevators each for carts and bicycles, two passenger elevators and stairs. A power plant was built in Steinwerder to operate the elevators. Three diesel generators provided the necessary electricity.

Technically and architecturally extraordinary

What is special about the Elbe tunnel is not only the technical achievement behind it, but also the unusually beautiful and complex architecture for such a structure. With the shaft building in St. Pauli, Otto Wöhlecke, who also designed the adjacent Landungsbrücken, created an imposing tuff stone building in the style of representative historicism - with a domed roof, large windows, sculptures on the walls and an open steel construction with the elevator cars. Reliefs depicting fish and other aquatic animals adorn the tubes lined with light-colored tiles. This display of engineering was quite intentional. "The aim was to consciously convey the fascination of civil engineering. Master builder Otto Stockhausen wanted to combine technical construction and beauty in one building," says Hamburg author Sven Bardua.

The pit building in Steinwerder originally looked exactly like the one in St. Pauli - with the difference that the facade was made of red brick to match the area and the plastics on the walls showed workers instead of engineers. After being destroyed in the Second World War, the building was rebuilt in 1952 as a purely functional building. Domed roof and sculptures have not been restored.

Awarded as "a landmark of engineering"

The Old Elbe Tunnel has been under monument protection since 2003, and on its 100th birthday in 2011 a special award was added:the Federal Chamber of Engineers awarded it the title "Historical Landmark of Civil Engineering in Germany". The federal government also honored the monument - with a 10-euro commemorative coin in silver. On the picture side you can see the shaft construction with the elevators, both tunnel tubes in cross-section and the Elbe with ships above.

Transport importance decreases due to new Elbe Tunnel

The Old Elbe Tunnel has become an integral part of the cityscape. It embodies a piece of Hamburg history, is a popular sight and a fast transport route for crossing the Elbe within the city. However, since the 1970s, when the shipyards fell into crisis and the new Elbe tunnel was built, its importance in terms of transport has declined sharply. While cars used to drive through the tunnel, today only cyclists, pedestrians and tourists use it - a total of almost two million people in 2019. However, this is not economical, the old technology is very labour-intensive.

Elaborate renovation with obstacles

Old Elbe Tunnel:Data and facts

Start of construction :07/22/1907
Inauguration :07.09.1911
Length :426.5 meters
Depth (roadway) :23.5 meters
tube diameter :5.92 meters
road width :1.82 m (since 1928:1.92 m)
Number of elevators :12
Construction :Shield tunneling method
Concept :Oberbaurat Ludwig Wendemuth
Architect :Otto Wöhlecke
Execution :Philipp Holzmann &Cie.
Use :Pedestrians and cyclists can use the tunnel free of charge 24 hours a day. As the tunnel is currently being renovated, only one tube is available. The tunnel is closed to cars and motorbikes until further notice.

Ongoing repairs also cost a lot of money. The Old Elbe Tunnel has been extensively restored since 1995. The shaft buildings on both sides have been completely restored inside and out. The dome on the St. Pauli side was given a new copper skin and the windows there, which had been covered for years, were restored true to the original. While the building shines in its old splendor from the outside, there were enormous technical problems with the renovation of the tubes. It therefore takes much longer than originally planned and is also significantly more expensive. The renewal of the east tube was completed in spring 2019. Work is currently underway on the west tube, which is closed to traffic. The reopening is planned for 2026.

The Old Elbe Tunnel is still fascinating

In any case, the fascination of the tunnel does not detract from the many years of construction work. Anyone who descends the 132 steps or rides in one of the freight elevators with the vertically opening wooden doors is still amazed at the artistic and effective system. "Building decorations inside and out and the unique construction without ramps - that still fascinates people today," says Sven Bardua. The Old Elbe Tunnel is the only tunnel in the world that works according to this principle and is still used as a traffic route. Its prototype in Glasgow was completely shut down in 1980.