Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge)

The Kapellbrücke, or Chapel Bridge, crosses the calm Reuss River and connects the charming old town of Lucerne with its modern center. It was built in the early 14th century. It was constructed to protect the city from attacks coming from the river. It was built by the city’s founder, Rudolf IV. The bridge has two towers, both covered with roofs.

Part of the bridge complex is the octagonal 34.5-meter-high (from the ground) "Wasserturm," which translates as "water tower," meaning "a tower standing in the water." The tower was built 30 years before the bridge. Over the centuries, the tower was used as a prison, torture chamber, later as a municipal archive, and also as a local treasury. Today, the tower is closed to the public, although it houses the local artillery association and a tourist souvenir shop.

The bridge itself was originally built around 1365 as part of Lucerne’s fortifications. It connected the old town on the right bank of the Reuss with the new town on the left bank, protecting the city from attacks from the south (i.e., from the lake side). Originally, the bridge was over 270 meters long, although numerous shortenings over the years and riverbank replenishments have reduced its total length to just 204.7 meters. It is the oldest surviving truss bridge in the world, consisting of strut and triangular trusses of the middle span, supported by pile trestles; thus, it is probably an evolution of the strut bridge.

The Kapellbrücke almost completely burned down on August 18, 1993, destroying two-thirds of its interior paintings. Shortly thereafter, the Kapellbrücke was reconstructed and reopened to the public on April 14, 1994, at a total cost of 3.4 million Swiss francs.

Lucerne is unique in that its three wooden pedestrian bridges—the 14th-century Hofbrücke (now destroyed), the Kapellbrücke, and the 16th-century Spreuerbrücke—all had painted interior triangular frames. No other wooden pedestrian bridge in Europe has this feature.

The history of the paintings began with the city council’s decision that the Kapellbrücke should be decorated with a cycle of paintings. All council members were invited to sponsor this work. A sponsoring family usually paid for two panels with paintings on both sides, on which they were allowed to place their personal coat of arms. This cycle of Kapellbrücke paintings is closely linked to the history of the Swiss Confederation and neighboring countries. Looking back at the political events of 1560-1620, it becomes clear why the sequence of paintings was created in this way. It was a politically unstable time when internal politics were dominated by confessional disputes, and foreign policy was influenced by shifting alliances between France, Spain, Savoy, and the Pope. The detailed depiction of the French saint Léger was a tribute to the French king, on whose payroll many Lucerne citizens were. The eloquent tribute to the Theban saint Maurice was directed against Savoy, an important Catholic ally. The paintings were created during the Counter-Reformation and depicted scenes promoting the Catholic Church. An explanation of each painting was printed below each scene. The paintings were arranged along the entire bridge, starting with the life and death of Lucerne’s patron saint Léger and ending with legends about another city patron saint, Saint Maurice.

The paintings, dating from the 17th century, were created by the local Catholic artist Hans Heinrich Wegmann. Of the original 158 paintings, 147 existed before the 1993 fire. After the fire, remains of 47 paintings were collected, but only 30 were fully restored.

The wooden boards on which the paintings hung were between 150 centimeters and 181 centimeters in length and between 85 centimeters and 95 centimeters in width. Most panels were made from spruce boards, with only a few from linden and maple.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapellbr%C3%BCcke

https://chapel-bridge.ch/background/chapel-bridge-paintings/