On 11 September 2024, an event took place in Dresden that was not expected in Germany: the partial collapse of a prestressed concrete bridge. The Dresden Carola Bridge was an icon of engineering of its time, and its design and construction would still be a challenge today. The quality in design and of the construction work were exceptionally high at the time. The article begins by briefly discussing the design and construction of the bridge. A hypothesis on the collapse process is presented and the search for the cause of the collapse is described. According to current knowledge, this lies in the specific nature of the prestressing steel used and the load situation on the day of the accident.